


Bonds

by SnixIsYum



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Age Difference, Anal Sex, Branding, Brotherly Love, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Childhood Trauma, Childhood friends with Carl, Consensual Underage Sex, Emotional Baggage, Eventual Romance, Eventual relationship, Everything begins in season 1, F/F, F/M, Gentle Sex, Japanese Culture, Loss of Innocence, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Negan’s Spaghetti, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Past Rape/Non-con, Protective Rick, Psychopathology & Sociopathy, Rape Recovery, Repressed Memories, Torture, Underage Rape/Non-con, mention of csa, yummy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 08:08:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 28
Words: 55,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21966220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnixIsYum/pseuds/SnixIsYum
Summary: * DONT READ. I’m rewriting the whole fic *Ciel is a boy, around Carl’s age who’s on a journey with his family, and other people who he meets along the way. Including a man who saved Ciel in the very beginning.~I’ve switched between what happens around Ken and Ciel, but mainly everything revolves around Ciel :) ~And no sex for Ciel until the last chapter... Sorry. Also, I'm actually rewriting the whole fic, just so you know (insert winky face here)
Relationships: Carl Grimes & Original Male Character, Rick Grimes & Original Male Character
Comments: 2
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note: I’m editing all these chapters, and have changed Astra’s name to what it was originally supposed to be - Cassie. 
> 
> Seems like I have a thing for names that start with C or K ;)

Ciel’s mother and her best friend wanted to have children at the same time, and have them be like sisters. Like them. That’s if... They were both girls.

Ciel’s mother rushed into getting pregnant when her friend did. She made sure they’d have children at the same time. At any cost.

After many attempts at trying to have babies together over the years, the two finally succeeded.

When Ciel was born, his mother decided to keep the name Ciel for her newborn son. The name was originally for a girl. Her best friend named her daughter Cassie.

They grew up together, just as planned. They might as well have been siblings. They rarely fought or argued, they just had fun. Ciel’s mother was rather disappointed that she had a boy. She never gave him as much attention as she should’ve. But he knew she still loved him.

A few years after he was born, Ciel’s father died. Then, when he was 8 years old, his mother was taken away from him too.

Ciel couldn’t live with Cassie and her family. They already had enough troubles with their two other sons, and Ciel’s older brother wasn’t capable of caring for Ciel _and_ his sisters. 

Luckily Cassie wasn’t Ciel’s only friend - He was also best friends with Carl Grimes. He never was fully introduced to Carl’s parents, but they were always together at school.

Ciel, Carl and Cassie. A few other kids would play with them, but it was usually just these three. The three C’s.

Carl managed to convince his parents to take care of Ciel after learning he would be taken somewhere else far away, possibly lost in the foster system. He didn’t want to lose his best friend, so after Lori and Rick talked about it, they took Ciel in.

It was meant to be temporary, only a few months. But it ended up lasting years. Then it became official. Ciel was officially part of the Grimes family.

Ciel liked Rick and Lori. They reminded him of his mom, who he missed but.. He was happier. Lori gave him more attention than his own mother did.

That deep love for his family despite all the problems only made him that much more sad when he felt like everyone he knew was dead.

Carl. Cassie. Rick. Lori. His siblings. Even Shane, who acted as an uncle towards him.

Ciel was abandoned when everything went to shit. Abandoned by Cassie’s dad while they were in town looking for something to comfort Carl and Lori.

Rick was in a coma. Carl was scared and Lori was worried.

* * *

It was a chaotic night. The dead were coming back to life and suddenly, people were eating people. And Cameron (Cassie’s father) Left to go to _his_ family. To _his_ children and his wife.

Ciel was surrounded by cannibalistic freaks, and panicking people. There were cars on fire in the town and the military were wiping out civilians for some reason. He’d get pushed and knocked down by taller people, scared people.

Finally, a woman helped him and guided him into a church for safety. There were at least 15 people there, crying and praying. As far as Ciel knew, he was the only child there.

It was only a few days after he went into the church when they lost their minds. It was the only way to describe their actions towards Ciel.

They started to believe God was testing them. Their faith, and their humanity. They prayed, and prayed, and prayed, helping any people they come by, offering food, safety and comfort. They favoured Ciel. The way they treated him was unusual and creepy.

After days of unanswered prayers, they started to think… If God noticed Ciel, a pure, innocent, and kind child who was put through terrible things, God would do something to spare him, as he may have been the last child alive. Despite the torture Ciel endured, if it came to it, they’d have to sacrifice Ciel. Maybe for a less holy being, and more.. Adverse. 

God wasn’t there for them. He never was. Perhaps something else would be. Their faith turned to cruelty, worshipping a new god. A darker one. They put Ciel through indescribable pain, through inhumane acts. Absolute humiliation that lasted a month before he was saved. They did things to him they hadn’t done before.

It was the day he was brought into town to get branded. As a last step to achieve their ridiculous goals. And to prove to Ciel that he, at that moment, belonged to those men and women in the church. He belonged to the evil god they worshipped so much. They had just finished putting a sign - their “logo” on his body. _Claiming him._

They were getting ready to leave the building when a man named Ken Orlov saved Ciel. He killed the 9 people that were there and took him away and started caring for him… Physically. And ensuring his safety. 

For the following month, Ken proved to Ciel he’d do whatever it took to keep him safe. Anything. And that he wouldn’t ever touch or hurt him, he’d never make him remember the pure and utter terror he felt. Because of that, he was the only person Ciel would allow near him… Not that they ran into any people.

One day, Ken brought Ciel to Atlanta for more supplies, more food. That stuff was a bit limited nowadays.

4 nights after arriving in Atlanta, Ken was out searching for food again, leaving Ciel in a store nearby. There was no other way for anyone to go in, so he was safe.

Ciel wasn’t doing much while he waited. He’d found some colored pencils and paper. He didn’t draw much before. He didn’t know how, so he drew shapes in different colors, or practicing how to write.

Suddenly, he heard.. A sound he knew wasn’t made by the infected. 

He wondered if Ken was back so he sat on his legs and lifted himself up and looked outside. 

_That wasn’t ken._

It was a man on a horse. He was far, but slowly getting closer. As he got closer, he felt like he recognized the man by what he wore.. He’d seen it before. It was similar to what the police wore in his hometown. The man got closer and closer and finally Ciel realized who it was. He quickly got up, and ran out of the building. 

The man looked at where the noise of a door opening came from. His horse stops, and his eyes go wide.

“C-Ciel?” He stuttered. The man quickly climbed off his horse, and walked towards Ciel.

“... Rick?” Ciel muttered quietly and running towards him. Rick opened his arms wide, bringing Ciel in for a tight hug. It hurt and Ciel quietly winced but endured the pain. He needed this. 

“I thought you were dead..” Ciel cried as he nuzzled his face in Rick’s chest. 

“No, No. I’m here. I’m alive...” Rick mumbled, his hand ran through Ciel’s hair. “Where’s Lori? Carl? Do you know where they are?” He asks, breaking their hug. 

“N-no. I haven’t. I’ve been…. On my own for a few weeks.”

Rick frowned but returned to hugging him.

“Well, come on now. We’ll find them together, yeah?” He reassures, smiling at the son he thought was gone - or perhaps, with Lori and Carl. Wherever they may be.

“Okay..” Ciel mumbled and nodded. He was hesitant about leaving Ken, but he knew Ken would still be watching him from a distance somehow. That man was Ciel’s superman… Minus the cool superpowers and empathy for _everyone._

Ciel walks next to Rick down the street, next to the horse. And a little too late, Rick noticed a horde of infected around the corner, covering the street. Rick was momentarily distracted by something in the air. 

“Oh shit, go! Run!” Rick yells at Ciel. Ciel ran a different way than Rick, going towards an empty alleyway. He was followed by a dozen infected.

Ciel was instantly worried about Rick as he realized he wasn’t behind him. He was wondering where he went to find safety but he had himself to think about… For now.

He heard a man yelling above him. “Hey! Kid! Climb up here!”

Ciel looked up, then at the walkers and quickly climbed up the ladder, and reached the roof. He’s panting from the climb, the stranger who helped him helps him catch his breath. 

“Oh.. Jeez... That's a lot of geeks..” The guy says nervously. “You okay kid?” He looks at Ciel. He nods.

He grabs a walkie talkie that sat nearby, and turns it on, and speaks to Rick who apparently climbed in the tank on the street.

“That guy you were with, he’s okay.” He turns to Ciel, who hasn’t bothered answering him yet. “Hey, you don’t need to be afraid. Okay? Now, what's your name? I’m Glenn.” Glenn says. He switched between talking to Rick and to Ciel.

“Glenn?” Ciel questioned quietly. Glenn looks back, and suddenly recognizes Ciel. Glenn stuttered, trying to say something to him, but had to focus on Rick to help him get away without dying, giving him advice on how to do that. He gave Rick instructions on how to reach him and Ciel.

Glenn turned over to look at Ciel, who was watching the walkers moan and stumble around. “Um… Y-J-Just wait a second. Stay here, okay?” 

Ciel didn’t even look at him, his eyes a little stuck on the dead walking. It’s only been 2 months since they infected his world. Some days it was hard to really grasp the fact that the dead weren’t ever.. Really dead. Not anymore. 

Glenn ran back to the ladder and started to climb down. Minutes after he left, Ciel heard gunshots and slightly panicked more. 

He wondered whether or not they’re okay. He hoped Rick was okay and alive. He hadn’t ever seen someone turn or get bit or torn apart.. Not really. It would suck if the first person he lost to that was the only man in his life who was his father figure.

5 minutes later, Glenn comes back with Rick, both of them panting and taking a moment for them to catch their breath. Rick quickly ran over to hug Ciel. He was happy he was okay.

“Is-is he your son?” Glenn asks. 

“In a way.” He smiled at Ciel, kissing his forehead despite how dirty he was. Rick was just happy Ciel was alive. It took a moment, but he noticed Ciel looks... scared. “What's the matter? Did one of them get you?” He asks as the three of them begin walking to a different building on the roof.

Ciel doesn’t answer. He follows the two men and climb down another ladder and run back outside. 

They run through the alley after two people run out and kill the two walkers, then run into the store where a lady points her gun at Rick, pushing him into the boxes by the door. Ciel hid behind a small corner to stay away from the strangers. Maybe they’ll hurt him too...

Ciel felt his heart beating faster. It was like he couldn’t breathe anymore. It was his first time seeing the walkers that close and being killed. The first time in weeks he’s seen another human being. The last time he did, he was put through terrible things. Most of which is blurry, but he still knew what they did to his body. The pain is a reminder of it. 

And to make things worse, _a gun_ was pointed at Rick - who might be the only family he has left.

The lady is clearly mad.

“You son of a bitch! We oughta kill you!” She yells at him, her gun points closer to his head.

Ciel’s body jolted and trembled from the fear and how loud she was. It was only then does he realize it was a mistake to not tell Rick about Ken. He knew he was nearby. He needed Ken.

Ken and Ciel have an odd relationship. An odd bond that formed as soon as Ciel allowed Ken to touch him to tend his injuries. 

Ken would never leave Ciel’s side, even if he wasn’t always beside him. Only a month of knowing each other, and they’re almost inseparable.

One of the people who killed the infected outside tells the woman, who Ciel found out is named Andrea, to back off. And she does.

Glenn tried to talk to Andrea to calm her down as she was still mad but he keeped getting ignored.

He noticed Ciel panicking and goes towards him to calm _him_ down. It was unsuccessful, as Ciel was hyperventilating with a bit of crying mixed in.

”Hey, it’s okay, Ciel,” Glenn reassured, “You’re safe here, okay? You’re not in any danger.” Glenn held Ciel’s face to make him look at him.

“Guys!!” Glenn yells at everyone. They all look at him hugging Ciel. Who can’t seem to breathe properly. Rick rushes over to him, “Ciel? What’s the matter?”

Everyone’s expression changes from anger and fear, and more into sympathy when they realize a child was there with them and is clearly scared to death. Possibly more than they are. It’d make sense if he was. 

Rick raised his hands to Ciel’s small, dirty face. He can feel Ciel trembling with fear, and brings him in for another hug.

Glenn walked towards the others, who ask him about Rick, and Ciel. Glenn mumbles something that makes everyone gasp.

“Come on, Ciel, breathe. You’re okay now,” Rick reassures. “That's it... You’re okay...”

When Ciel finally calms down a bit, he puts more space between them. Rick gave him a confused look.

Ciel glanced at Glenn then looked away. Rick sighed and turned to Andrea, who continued to blame him for bringing the horde of walkers to the doors of the store.

A very dark skinned lady walks to Ciel.

If there's one thing Ciel is good at, is being able to tell whether or not a person is kind. He can tell what kind of person a person might be by the way they talk, walk, act, or even smile. Maybe it's in their eyes, or the vibe they give off, or Ciel is just sensitive to those kinds of things.

Before everything, Ciel saved Carl twice from other kids at school who pretended to be nice to them but turned out to be bullies. Same with Cassie.

It seemed like that.. Ability broke, the second he walked into that church. He trusted them. They never gave off a dangerous vibe until they gave into the fear and lost their minds, laying their filthy fingers on his body. There is no physical marks, but every now and then, he can feel them. 

It felt different with this lady.. There was a strong sense of... Kindness in her eyes, especially as she smiled and reassured him that everything would be okay. He knew it was bullshit, but made himself calm down anyways

Ciel zoned out, not noticing the lady offering her hand to hold as they walk further in the store. He ignored her and joined the rest of the group himself.

He can tell everyone is scared. Probably from the herd of walkers outside. Their fear is noticeable. The way they move, the way they talk. 

Ciel’s been in Atlanta for 4 days. Ken never mentioned how much infected was in the area. Maybe it was to avoid Ciel from panicking.

It’s something he does a lot nowadays. It’s not necessarily from the infected. It's from those damn people who hurt him so much. He only wished he was the one to kill them, but knowing that he really felt like that… Made him sad and scared of this new, broken world and how it’s changed him.

They stood in the store and looked at the group of walkers banging outside the doors of the store.

Ciel heard the people talk, but it's slightly muffled. Like he’s in another room, or a nightmare.

He stays close to Rick, standing behind him. Rick turns around and puts a hand on Ciel’s shoulder, saying something, hoping Ciel remains as calm as he possibly can. 

The contact instantly makes Ciel uncomfortable and scared. His body jumps and he pushes Ricks hand off and walks a few steps back. Rick looked at Ciel confusingly.. Then wonders... If he wasn’t with Astra and her family, or with Lori and Carl.

What’s he been doing alone for the past few weeks? 

The only thought that came to mind, was one that a parent would never want to think. If he gets scared from a single touch on the shoulder… it was possible he had a bad run in with other people. People who hurt him.. or tried to. It’d make sense.

He was about to ask him where he’s been until they hear a gunshot that made Ciel basically jump out of his skin. He’s always hated guns. 

“Oh no, is that Dixon?” Andrea groaned, and they all ran upstairs.

They reach the roof, and Ciel saw a bald man holding a gun. He can tell that man is bad news..

He backs away from him and turns around. He looks around to see if he can see Ken nearby. He looks, and looks, and looks and finally. He see’s Ken in a building not too far from him. It might creep out a normal person to see Ken staring directly at them. Not Ciel though.

He smiles a little, thankful that Ken knows his whereabouts. Perhaps he has this spooky man to thank for that. He walks back over to Rick, and Merle jumps off the ledge. 

T-Dog snaps at Merle but Merle completely ignores him and looks at Ciel.

“Well who do we have here?!” He smiles at Ciel, who backed away. Merle only walks closer, “Don’t walk away from me kid. Tell me, what's your name?”

“Leave the kid alone, he’s already terrified.” T Dog says

Merle faces T Dog, and the two begin to argue. Things get more tense, and Merle beats up T Dog.

Ciel wishes he was alone. Well, alone-ish. He wants to be with Ken again. Ken made him feel safe.

Merle gets off of T Dog, then looks at Ciel. “Watch and learn kid—” He rambles on about being a leader. Rick surprised Ciel by punching Merle, and handcuffing him.

Glenn hesitantly walked up to Ciel. “How you uh.. How are you holding up?”

Ciel stares off into the city. 

“Hey, you alright?”

He turns his head and blankly looks at Glenn. Ciel wonders if he can really trust anyone anymore, even the man who looks like the brother he’s only met once

Besides... The last time he trusted someone, he was led into a building full of... Mean people. People who traumatized him.

Glenn walks towards Rick, who’s talking to a different guy. “Hey, uh, Rick. You said Ciel is your son, right?”

Rick nods. “Not biologically, but yeah, he might as well be. Why?”

“Uh..” Glenn clears his throat. “Something seems wrong with him..”

Rick gives Glenn a _‘really? no shit. Look around you’_ look. Ciel is only a kid, why wouldn’t something be wrong?

“I think you know what I mean.. It’s… Different. Like he’s—.”

Rick instantly remembered the thought he had earlier. The look in Ciel’s eyes isn't just fear. It seems like there's more to it than that.

“Yeah. I think I do.” Rick mumbled.

Ciel was watching Ken from a distance. Ken seemed to have been wandering around the building, looking out at the walkers on the street. He’d see him through some office windows or walking past doors. He quickly averts his eyes somewhere else when Rick sits beside him after asking Glenn to check the alley for something. 

“Where have you been since this all started? You weren’t with Cassie, or—“ He pauses when he notices Ciel closing his eyes, and clutching his sleeve in his fist.

Whenever he thinks of those.. monsters. Not the dead monsters, but the alive monsters, the injuries they gave him would ache and throb. The same place where he was branded, where he was said to have belonged to those men and women.

It wasn’t fully healed yet, but it was close enough to the point where he didn’t have to worry about it getting infected.

Ciel winces from the throbbing, sting-like pain. 

Rick sighed, “Look, once we leave the city, I hope you tell me. I’m worried about you.” He brings Ciel’s head into his to kiss his head, then he walks off to talk to the other adults about a plan to get away and back to their camp.

Rick soon came up with a plan. A gross plan, and they all left to check out the building for sewers.

Ciel stayed on the roof. He avoided looking at Merle, even as he kept trying to talk to him. T-dog continued trying to get ahold of their camp. Or just, anyone.

Ciel didn’t like the way Merle spoke. His vibe. He didn’t feel safe, and wished Rick would come back quickly.

“Leave the boy alone, he doesn’t wanna talk to an idiot like you.” T Dog says, matter of factly.

“Oh come on, kids _love_ me.” He smiles at Ciel, making him and T-Dog cringe.

Ciel walks further away from Merle, “Hey! Come back here, I’m not done talking to ya!”

He ignored him, and sits back down to where he saw Ken.

“Hey, why don’t you come back over here and let me go, huh kid? Lemme teach you how to defend yourself before these idiots make you go weak.” Merle sassily says.

“Don’t listen to him Ciel.” T Dog warns Ciel when he turns around. “You care about Rick, right?” Ciel nods. “He’ll hurt him if you let him go.”

Ciel processed what T Dog says, and looks away. He hears Merle mutter a word.. He heard it earlier when they fought. It was a word he heard some people at school say. The way it sounded bothered him, like it was.. something offensive, and a word that only existed to hurt someone.

Merle continues to try and negotiate his way into getting out of the cuffs.

Ciel looks over towards where Ken was. He’s gone. It made Ciel sad, and his heart started to beat faster. He decided to go see Rick, and look around as a distraction. 

“Hey, where are you going?” T Dog asks.

Finally, after not answering anyone or talking since he found Rick, he spoke. “Rick..” He mumbles.

He goes down the stairs, and into the store where he saw Andrea put something in her pocket. He walks up to them both, “I thought I told you to stay up on the roof.” Rick says once he notices Ciel. 

“Hey..” Andrea greets. 

Ciel shrugs, keeping his head down low. 

Rick sighs and looks around him. Ciel wandered around and looked at a hat he liked. A red beanie. He used to wear them, but he lost the one he wore when things went to shit. He and Ken went to his home, but when Ciel got there. Most of his stuff was already gone. It made Ciel sad.

Rick smirks when he notices Ciel looking at the hat, so he grabs it, and sets it on Ciel’s head. Andrea stood near him, “Hey, that's a nice hat. It suits you” She smiles at him. Ciel looks up at her. He can tell she’s not as bad as she seemed earlier… Or is she?

Ciel turned away to adjust the hat, looking in the mirror. Cringing and chuckling quietly when he saw how dirty he was.

He then realizes he’s in a store. Isn’t taking something without buying, bad? He wasn’t fully sure if those things mattered anymore. 

Once again, Ciel finally talks. “Isn’t it bad?”

“What’s that?” Rick asks

“I-Isn’t this stealing?”

Andrea quietly chuckles at Ciel’s question

Rick sighs and kneels next to Ciel. “It’s not stealing. Not anymore. If you want the hat, keep it.” He smiles at Ciel. Ciel nods.

The glass from the doors breaks, and it startles everyone. Glenn and another guy come running back.

“What’d you find down there?” Rick asks the two guys

“Not a way out.”

“We need to find a way. Soon..”

Glenn is standing behind Ciel. He pokes Ciel’s head and says, “Nice hat.” he smiles at Ciel.

They all run back to the roof, where Rick uses binoculars and looks around the streets.

Ciel doesn’t quite understand what they’re saying. Maybe it's because he’s tired, hungry. And because it’s all just too much for him.

But when they start talking about the infected, it catches Ciel’s attention, and he begins to listen. He feels nervous and scared, especially when he heard their plan on getting out of the city.

They all go back down to the store, collect jackets and bring in one of the infected dead people.

Ciel stands farther behind everyone as they prepare to use the guts of a walker to camouflage themselves.

Rick told Ciel to wait in the store, and to yell if the walkers broke through quicker than anticipated.

Rick called Ciel once they finished, “Hey, Ciel, you can come back now.”

Ciel walks to where they all are, and coughs when he smells them, and sees the walker on the floor. Ciel walks away, but stays within hearing distance.

“Sorry, I know it smells bad in here..” Rick says.

“Bad is an understatement.” T-Dog added.

Andrea stayed by Ciel’s side as Rick and Glenn get ready to leave.

Rick asked Andrea to watch after him, since he might be scared with Rick leaving him with people he doesn’t know. Andrea doesn’t hesitate, as she pities the poor kid.

The only thing Ciel can think about... Is Ken.

He wants Ken, but he has a feeling Ken won’t show up for awhile, if he and Rick stay with this group, or move on to search for Lori and Carl.

Either way... He wishes he was dead, so he wouldn’t have to deal with these intense emotions he constantly feels but can’t understand.

Rick finally gets Ciel’s attention. “Hey, Ciel, listen to me alright? Glenn and I are going out there to get a vehicle so we can leave the city. We’ll be right back, so stay with Andrea, okay? She’s not as mean as she seemed to be earlier,” He reassures Ciel, “Here, take this. When everyone is getting ready to leave, let Merle out of the cuffs, alright? Or get someone else to” He gives Ciel the key for the handcuffs. Ciel puts it in his pocket

Ciel looks up at Andrea, who smiles at him, then back at Rick. “Ok..” He whispers.

Rick and Glenn leave, and attempt to help everyone, including them, escape the city full of walkers.

Although, Glenn is distracted. Desperate to talk alone with Ciel, and clarify things. He remains as focused as he can.


	2. Chapter 2

Rick and Glenn rush out the doors, covered in walker guts.

“Alright, lets go!” T-Dog shouts and they all start running towards the stairs and back to the roof.

Everyone ran to the edge to check on Rick and Glenn.

“Hey, what's happening man?!” Merle yells once everyone’s back.

T-Dog continues to try and get ahold of their camp, and the others look for Rick and Glenn down at the street. Ciel’s standing next to him, and has already spotted them.

“That asshole is out on the street with the handcuff keys?!” Merle complains loudly. Ciel turns around and shows Merle the key. “Well, what are you waiting for?! Get me out of these things you damn brat!”

Ciel glares at Merle and Andrea puts a hand on his shoulder. Ciel looks up at her, and she quietly says, “Not yet.” 

Ciel nods and glances down at Rick and Glenn, then starts to go downstairs, Andrea follows. “Where’re you going?”

“Bathroom..”

“Oh.”

Andrea joins him, walking with him to the store and waits for him outside the boys‘ restroom as Ciel does his business.

He had taken his sweater off to check his cut on his arm. He cringes whenever he sees it, but has to make sure it’s healing.

He walks out and they go back to the roof, and it starts to rain.

He watches Rick on the street, and suddenly they start killing the infected. He gets nervous. Worried. He doesn’t want Rick to die. If he dies and if Ken is dead too, he’ll have nobody left.

He couldn’t see Ken anywhere, and Ciel’s eyesight is close to perfect. He sees things most can’t see or notice, and observes them. It’s one of the things he’s a natural at.

He relaxes when Rick and Glenn make it past the infected, and finally get into the truck they said they needed. But.. they drive off.

Andrea and the others think they got abandoned, but Ciel quickly says, “No.”

“No, what?”

“They aren’t leaving...”

Andrea was going to ask what he meant, but then they heard Glenn tell them to get ready to leave. They start running down, back to the store and Ciel remembers the key, and looks back at Merle. “Hey! Don’t leave me here!”

He continues screaming at them, Andrea waits at the door. “Ciel! Hurry!”

She runs down the stairs, and Ciel runs to go get Merle out of the cuffs but trips over the bag of tools and lets go of the key, and it flies over the edge of the building, falling all the way down.

Merle calls Ciel nasty names. 

“I-I-“ Ciel stutters. “I’m sorry!” He whines, and runs off.

He found a lock mixed in with the bag of tools and used it to lock the door. At least this way Merle won’t get eaten by the walkers once they break through the doors. He ran down the stairs, meeting back with Andrea, running through the store, the walkers break through.

“We’re here!! They broke through!” Andrea shouts as they pass by.

They hear three bangs, and begin to open the storage gate. Ciel hasn’t been this scared; this exhausted, for so long.

Ciel’s the first to get on, Rick and Andrea help him up. Then Rick climbs back in the driver's seat and drives away once everyone is inside.

“You all okay?” Rick asks. They all nod, but Ciel sits in the back of the truck. He’s worried about the fact he doesn’t necessarily feel bad that Merle was left behind.

Soon after getting on the road, he falls asleep.

He’s had a lot of dreams… Well, more like nightmares. Ever since Ken saved him, he finally got full nights sleep. He can’t sleep for long, though, since most of the time he wakes up, sweating and out of breath.

But this time... He dreamt of Ken. It wasn’t too scary for the first half, but out of nowhere he witnesses Ken get torn apart by walkers. His screaming soon turned into an alarm sound, only for it to really be Glenn driving by. The sound of the car alarm scares Ciel awake. His body jolts and he gasps. 

“Hey, you okay?” The lady from earlier asks. He doesn’t know her name.

He nods, and looks away and rests his eyes again. His stomach grumbles. He’s hungry, still tired and thirsty. The whole point of going to Atlanta was to find some food.

He then wonders about Ken, whether or not Ken knew where Ciel was going. If Ken was even alive. It made him sad.. 

“What happened with Merle?” Rick asks. Ciel looks up at them.

“I… I dropped the key..” He mumbled. 

“Hey, don’t worry about it. Not a lot of people will miss him.” A man says, looking back at Ciel. “Well, his brother might..”

“Brother?”

“Daryl.”

“Hm..”

Ciel drifts off to sleep again. This time, he sleeps somewhat peacefully, all the way to the camp.

He felt a little less tired when Rick woke him up. He looked back and reassured Ciel. “Hey, wake up. Let’s go meet everyone. We’ll stay here awhile, and then look around for Lori and Carl, sound good?”

“Why wait?” Ciel says, drowsily. He’s still only half awake.

“We need to rest a couple days until we go. Alright? Now come on.”

Ciel stays back to pee, but quickly finishes and catches up with Rick, who gets out once one of the people calls out to Rick, but calls Rick an unusual nickname.

Ciel was farther behind Rick, but quickly caught up. His eyes were half closed as he walked, still trying to wake completely up as he followed Rick.

It took less than 10 steps for Rick to notice Shane, then Carl and Lori who weren’t that far away. Carl was crying and Lori was reassuring him.

Not a second after, Rick’s breath shudders. Ciel looks up at him. “Oh my god..” Rick gasps. 

“What?” Ciel asked.

Rick walks faster. Ciel jolts his head up when he hears Carl’s voice, calling for Rick. His eyes go wide.

Sure, they aren’t his biological family. They aren’t related by blood, but Rick, Lori and Carl were the closest things he had to family, even if he does still have one biological family member left. Ciel didn’t feel like they were family..

Even though he’s happy to see them, he missed Ken. He stayed back, feeling like he didn't deserve to join their little reunion.

After all, he was different from other people.

He was... Lost. In other ways, he was broken. He was gross. Either way, why should he infect people with his grossness? He could make everyone who’s in a good mood, into a bad one. Or, he just wasn’t worthy of being loved anymore. If anything, he just wished he died all those days ago.

Ciel stayed away, letting Rick hug his family.

Andrea breaks away from her sister, and kneels next to Ciel. “What are you doing? Aren’t they your family too? Go! Hug them!” She encouraged Ciel, lightly pushing him towards Rick, Carl and Lori.

Ciel slowly walked by them, going unnoticed. For a second. He heard Rick mumble something as Ciel walked past them. Rick lets go of Lori and Carl, and Carl turns around after Rick points at Ciel, who continued to walk away, which concerned everyone else.

Rick said Ciel “might as well” have been his son. The way he said it indicated it wasn’t a bad thing, but Glenn wondered why Ciel didn’t join the heartwarming reunion.

“Ciel?!” Carl yells out. Rick held onto Lori while they watched Carl basically tackle Ciel who made an “Oof!” sound as he gets squeezed by Carl, nearly falling to the ground. 

It hurt Ciel’s arm, but he endured the pain anyways. Carl was still crying. Ciel soon felt two other people hug him. Rick and Lori. Ciel didn’t bother hugging back. He couldn’t even if he wanted to, His arms were glued to his sides. “I’m so glad you both are okay..” Lori breathes out. Ciel felt her hands shaking.

Ciel looked down. He looked sad. He felt misplaced and didn’t feel like.. He belonged there. Even though he’s had contact with them, it feels as if they’re in a separate room. A different world, or dimension. 

Now, more than ever. Did he want Ken. He never made him feel that way. 

Shane and the others gave Ciel his own tent. Carl decided to join Ciel, but wanted to spend the night with his parents first. 

Ciel was fine with it. He wanted to be alone. He’d actually prefer Carl stay in his parents' tent. 

Carl gave some clothes to Ciel to change into after he cleaned himself up. The clothes were a bit too big, but he didn’t mind much. At least they were clean. _At least he was clean._

He noticed a short haired lady had taken his clothes, but assumed she might just wash them. He was given a towel, and was offered help to clean up. 

He couldn’t let people see his body, where it proves he’s different. He’s nasty, and, as they said it. Impure. _Disgusting._

Once he finished cleaning up, he goes straight to bed. He was exhausted and nervous to even sleep, knowing he’d probably have nightmares again. And Ken wasn’t there to help him feel better.

But he knew, if he at least got some sleep, he could convince Rick to let him go back to the city and look for Ken. He’d of course have to tell Rick about Ken, about how he killed 9 people.

If he did that, he’s worried Rick would say no, and he'd have to explain _why_ Ken killed 9 people for Ciel. There's a million things Rick could think of, but wouldn’t know for sure and would prefer if he had all the information.

He couldn’t have Rick know the kind of person he was. The things he felt - the nasty things. How can he let Rick’s image of him change so drastically?

Ciel sighed as he crawled into his well made bed, and decided to let it go and sleep. He’ll figure out what to do in the morning.

Ciel falls asleep. Rick goes inside to check on him, but quickly leaves once he realizes Ciel wasn’t awake anymore. He chuckles lightly as he walks back to Lori and the others who sit around the campfire. “He’s out like a light.”

“God.. He must’ve been so exhausted..” Andrea sighs.

“You said earlier that he came out from a store in the city? Alone?” Dale asks.

Rick nods.

“Surviving in this world alone... He must’ve been terrified. Why wasn’t he with anyone?” Andrea wondered 

“I don’t know... But I don’t think he _was_ alone the whole time.” Rick responds

“What do you mean?” Lori asks. 

“He...” Rick sighs. “The look in his eyes are just different than how they used to be. And it’s not just fear from the walkers. Something happened to him. I can feel it. But he won’t say anything.”

“He’s hardly even said a word since we met him.” T Dog adds.

“I can talk to him in the morning,” Lori says, bringing Carl in for a slight hug. 

“Me too. He’s like.. He’s like my brother. I want to make sure he’s okay.” Carl says determinedly.

“Well.. Uh, about that..” Glenn says, awkwardly chuckling

“What is it?”

“Well.. I-I,” He takes a deep breath, “He’s.. We’re—Um.. Well... Ciel and I… Are kind of... related. He’s, uh, my brother.”

“What?!” Amy gasped. “It’s a little hard to see the resemblance..” She leaned over towards Glenn, staring at his face closely, picturing Ciel’s own. 

Glenn shrugged and looked down at his drink. He stayed silent for awhile, then finally he said, “I never got to really know him. The last time I saw Ciel was when my dad died a little after I moved out.”

“Well.. How about that..” Andrea said quietly

“Why didn’t you say anything in Atlanta?” Rick asks

“I wanted to wait and talk privately with him, but we had no time, we had to get back here. And even when we did, he cleaned up and went straight to bed.”

“What I’m wondering is... Why he basically ignored you guys when he realized Lori and Carl were here too,” Andrea says. “I mean, he walked right past you guys when you all hugged. He’s only, what? 10, 11 years old? A kid his age would be... more happy to see family. He just—”

“Walked off..” Glenn adds. Andrea nods and Rick shrugs. “Like I said, I think Ciel went through something.. He was always such a happy, and positive kid. He’s still very shy and reserved but it’s almost as if.. He’s a completely different kid”

They all sigh and wonder... What did Ciel go through to make him so... sad? Distant?

A lot of terrible things popped into everyone's mind. They all had the same one thought of why he’s so different. But it was too sad to mention.

They continued on talking, but changing the subject, discussing how Rick felt, and things that went on while Rick was in a coma and waking up, not knowing what was happening in the world.

Then about what happened when they left.

“What about Merle? Daryl won’t be happy to hear his brother was left behind.” Dale asks. 

“Didn’t Ciel drop the key?” Andrea adds

“Yeah..” Rick sighs.

“I should probably tell him. I’m the one who cuffed him, and gave Ciel the key. It’s not entirely his fault.”

“Daryl wouldn’t hurt Ciel for that… Would he?” Amy asks.

“I doubt it. Ciel’s just a kid.” Lori says.

“Either way, Rick did what was necessary. Cuffing Merle on the roof. He was out of control, and he would’ve gotten us killed. If he got left behind, it’s nobody’s fault except his own.”

“And that's what we tell Daryl? I don’t see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you?”

Andrea sighs. “I don’t think Daryl would make a huge deal of it since it involves a mistake a little kid made. He’ll definitely be upset, I mean, he’s quite the hothead, but he’s not too violent.”

“Yeah… We’re gonna have our hands full when Daryl gets back from his hunt..” Dale says.

“I did run into Ciel before he left for bed, he told me something,” Glenn says quietly. 

“What’s that?” Rick asks. 

Glenn sighed, “He didn’t say much, except that he found a lock and locked the door before he left. So, it’s not like he’s dead.”

They all go quiet. “Alright, well, it’s getting late. We should all go and get some sleep.” Dale says as he stands up. Everyone else does the same.

“Hey. Why don’t you sleep in Ciel’s tent tonight? Make him feel less alone.” Lori suggests, kissing Carl’s forehead.

Carl hesitantly nods. 

“Ok, well go on then, we’ll see you in the mornin’” She smiles at him. Carl goes to hug Rick. 

“I found you, didn’t I?” 

Carl nods, “I love you dad..”

“I love you, too, Carl...” He kisses Carl’s head and lets Carl go to the tent he now shares with Ciel.

Carl runs to the tent, but slows down and quietly crawls inside and into the extra cot and goes to sleep.

“It’s crazy to think Glenn and Ciel are related.. I never even.. Thought—” Lori mumbles. Rick hums in response. “Y’know… I remember before we officially adopted him, they told us he had siblings but they couldn’t provide for Ciel. I never thought we’d end up in the same camp as Glenn during all this.. _His brother_.”

“I know..” Rick kissed Lori’s neck as he climbed into their bed.

Lori pulled out a photo album and looked at it with Rick, flipping through photos of the four of them. 

“God… I never thought I’d see you again. You or Ciel.. I didn’t know where he was, I was so scared and.. You, I—“ She says as she turns over to look at Rick. “I’m so sorry.. For everything. I feel like when you were in the hospital... I just wanted to take it all back. The anger, the bad times..” Rick kisses Lori, and reassures her. “Not many people get a second chance...”

Rick notices his ring on Lori’s necklace, and gets it back, onto his finger.

“What’re we gonna do about Ciel?” Lori asks. ”Whatever it was that he went through… It worries me. What if he won’t talk to us about it? What if—“

“Hey..” Rick cut her off with a kiss, “We can figure it out tomorrow...” Rick says, he and Lori kiss deeply, soon leading to an intimate night. 


	3. Chapter 3

For the first time, Ciel had more sleep than he’s ever had. Sadly, he wakes up as he always has for the past month.

It was still early, but was later than the usual time he wakes up. It worried everyone when they hear screaming coming from Ciel’s tent.

It woke up Rick. He quickly got dressed, barely even has his shirt on when he runs outside and goes where everyone else is running to. He then realizes it’s Ciel screaming. “Is that Ciel?!”

“I think so!” Lori responds as she runs to the tent with Carl by her side.

Lori opens the tent, and Rick runs inside, along with Carl who pushes through

Glenn catches up, “Whats wrong? What’s happening?”

Dale, T Dog, Carol and the others surround Ciel’s tent, worried about Ciel.

Rick wakes up Ciel who continues screaming “Hey, Ciel! Wake up!”

Ciel finally wakes up with a fearful gasp. His face is wet with sweat, and his body is trembling from fear and anxiety. His hands squeezed Rick’s arms. His palms were clamy.

“Jesus, you’re shaking..” Rick says under his breath.

“R-Ri—“ He’s cut off by a deep gasp, trying to speak, but can’t form any words. He doesn’t have enough air to talk.

“What is it?”

“What's wrong?!” Carl shouts, worried for his best friend.

“Give him some space..” Lori says.

“I think he was just havin’ a nightmare..” Shane says to the others who were still worried. They walk away to let Ciel’s family help him.

“Come on, Ciel. Just breathe, sweetie...” Lori reassures, rubbing his back.

Ciel starts to calm down, taking deep breaths. Slowly, his body stops trembling.

“Yeah, just like that…” She whispers, kissing the top of his sweaty head.

Rick sighs and takes Carl outside. “Dad, what's wrong with Ciel? Is he okay?”

“Listen to me closely... Okay?”

Carl nods and Rick sighs before he continues talking. “Something bad might’ve happened to him. We don’t know where he was since everything started. There's not much we can do but comfort him, and show him that we love him. Okay?” Glenn listened in, worried about the brother he sadly never got to know as he got older. Carol brought Glenn a cold cloth from the lake to give to Ciel to help cool him down. 

Glenn nods at her then walks into the tent. 

Carl nods at Rick and looks away. He wonders what happened to Ciel. He wondered why he woke up screaming. Ciel’s never had a nightmare before. Carl is.. Worried. About him.

“Don’t pressure Ciel too much, but try and have him do some activities with you and the other kids. It might do him some good to at least try to have fun.”

Carl sighs. “Okay.. I just want Ciel to be happy.. I missed him.. I thought he was—”

“I know, sweetie.. Why don’t you get him some food? Let me, your mom and Glenn talk to him.”

Carl nods quickly and runs off. Rick goes back in the tent, and see’s Glenn hugging Ciel tightly. Both his and Lori’s eyes show how worried she is

Rick kneels in front of Ciel. “Ciel.. Do you know why you had a nightmare? woke up screaming?”

Ciel doesn’t answer.

“Hun, you should tell us what’s goin’ on. It’d make it easier for us to help you, and comfort you.” Lori says as her hands run through Ciel’s hair, Glenn dabs the cold cloth on his head. 

It was at the moment when she realized how long his hair has gotten since she last saw him. He held his head down. His hair basically covered his face.

He moved his knee’s up, hugging his legs closely to his tiny, thin body and hid his face even more, and leaned against Glenn. Lori took over helping Ciel’s body cool down. 

“Can you tell us what happened for those weeks you were gone?” Rick softly asks Ciel.

Ciel’s heart began to beat faster. “N-no.” Ciel mumbled

“Why not?”

Ciel moves his upper body away from Glenn’s hug, and lays down on his cot-bed and turns away.

“Ciel... I think it’d help you a lot to.. share it. We care about you and—“

“I said no!” Ciel shouts, his voice cracked. 

Rick and Lori sigh, and stare at Glenn who shrugged at them.

“Just.. leave me alone…” He mumbled, hiding his face with his blankets, despite how hot it was earlier.

Lori hesitantly gets up, and walks away.

“At least eat something, okay?” Rick says, tapping Ciel’s leg, then leaves the tent

Rick and Lori are bombarded with questions from the group.

Glenn stayed in the tent. “Ciel?”

Ciel doesn’t say anything. 

“You don’t have to tell me anything, but... I hope it's not too late for me to be there for you…” Glenn sighs, and touches Ciel’s arm.

He feels bad. He’d thought about Ciel a lot. He wondered what It would’ve been like to have a younger brother. He never got to know Ciel. He’d reach out to their mom but she’d never answer or call him back.

Ciel wasn’t aware he had more siblings growing up. He only believed Cassie was his.. somewhat sibling. He’d forgotten about his sisters and Glenn. They were never around, anyways.

Ciel sits up and looks at Glenn. Ciel can see how he felt, and decided to reassure him by hugging him. Glenn wasn’t expecting it but it made him happy. Then he hugged him back before he left.

Everyone gave Ciel some space until Carl arrives with some food for him.

Before he enters the tent, “Ciel? It’s me, Carl. Can I come in? I have some food for you.” He says softly.

“Okay...” Ciel responds, almost too quietly

Carl sets down the food to open the tent. Once its open, he grabs the food, steps in the tent slowly and walks towards Ciel.

Ciel sits up, and takes the tray of food into his lap.

It’s not a lot of food. There's some berries, and oatmeal with a small side of beans

It's an unusual mix, but food is food. Anything you find, you should eat.

“I haven’t had oatmeal for weeks...” Ciel mumbles as he puts some into his mouth, enjoying the warm-ish flavor

“We don’t have much, but I thought you would like it.” Carl smiles joyfully at Ciel.

He notices Ciel eating his food slowly, slower than he used to. It makes him wonder why. He had a feeling maybe he was starving, being alone in the city, not able to go anywhere where there's no walkers.

If he were Ciel, he’d be eating that food so fast.

Ciel only ate half of the oatmeal, even if there wasn’t a lot. He moved onto the small berries the group pick from around camp.

“Ciel?”

“Yes?” Ciel says, his mouth full of delicious berries

“There's more kids here. I was thinking... Maybe you can come and play with us? We can do almost anything fun as long as we’re close to the camp and do our chores.”

Ciel looks away, avoiding looking at his food with a sudden disturbing thought.

Sure, he was really young, but he felt things he shouldn’t ever have felt.

He felt like he became too... different to play with kids. Ciel no longer felt like a kid anymore, he wasn’t sure what he was. Except a gross human being, weighing down his friends.

“Ciel?”

Ciel looks at Carl.

He felt like he couldn't let down Carl. So, he’d push his feelings aside. He can’t say no to an excited Carl when it comes to playing.

Carl never got mad often, he was always a fairly optimistic kid. He’s normally happy, and very friendly. Ciel envied Carl. He seemed to have forgotten how to be happy.

Carl has a lot of questions for Ciel about his relation to Glenn, but didn’t wanna push it. Carl liked Glenn after all, so there wasn’t much of a problem.

As he finishes his berries and sets aside the food, he nods. A big, warm smile grows on Carls face

He swiftly walks outside the tent, and waits for Ciel, who slowly stands up and leaves the tent.


	4. Chapter 4

Ciel and Carl head towards the other kids. 

“Hey guys! This is my brother, Ciel!” He shouts at the 3 other kids.

They walk closer and they all greet Carl and Ciel. He wondered how old they were, they seemed a bit older than him at least.

Does age really matter anymore? There will be no more... Birthdays, Christmas’s, Halloween’s, none of that. All that matters now is surviving. At any cost, despite the freaks who keep trying to eat humans

A thin girl with short blonde hair waves at Ciel with a smile on her face, “Hi! I’m Sofia” Ciel moves his eyes to the other girl standing next to Sofia, “I’m Eliza, and this is my brother Louis” She points to the boy next to her, and he softly smiles at Ciel

When she spoke, Ciel could hear a bit of a spanish accent. He wondered about the language. How much they knew, understood, or could speak.

Ken lived in Japan before he came to America, so he knows Japanese. Ken has been teaching Ciel the syllabary for Japanese, how to write it, and continues to teach him about the language and culture.

Not only was it interesting to learn, but Ciel and Ken thought of a plan for when they’re around strangers.

Ciel’s a fast learner. He was always good in school subjects, like math, science. All that stuff. So they decided if they need to communicate but don’t want the others to know what they’re saying just in case, they can talk in Japanese.

Ciel can say a few basic sentences, and can hold a small conversation in Japanese. He never learned his own language; Korean. His mother didn’t know, so she never taught him.

Ciel was sure Ken was nearby. Somehow, Ken found Ciel. He had to. He desperately wanted Ken to teach him more about Japan and their culture, their language. Everything.

It was one thing he always wanted to do, one thing he looked forward to ever since Ken found him.

Ciel only watched the other kids talk and laugh with each other. Hovering in the background, following them at a distance if they went somewhere. He wasn’t sure how long it’s been since he left the tent, but he’s already tired. And Bored.

He follows Carl and his friends, wandering closer to the “edge of the camp”

They hear weird noises coming from the bushes. Carl and Sofia investigate, while Louis and Eliza stand back and continue to tease each other.

Carl and Sofia suddenly screamed for their parents when they realized it was a walker in the bushes. Their screaming only made Ciel jump, and feel uncomfortable. Eliza and Louis run away to their mom, while Ciel stays in his place, watching.

All the guys run towards them with weapons, Andrea and her sister go check out, but quickly look away when they begin to witness the men beating up the walker chewing on a dead deer.

Ciel watches them though. He’s curious about what they do to the infected freaks.

He was fascinated by how aggressive they were. He felt like if maybe he could do that, maybe the emotions he feels would die down, and he wouldn’t feel so... overwhelmed by them.

Lori moves Ciel to face away from the walker, and has him walk farther away from them. He hears the sounds of their weapons beating it get quieter as they walk away.

“You okay hun?” Lori asks Ciel. Ciel nods, and walks away.

He walks up to Carl who seems to be a little frightened.

Carl glances towards the water, and remembers something Shane promised him the other day. “Shane’s gonna teach me how to catch frogs later. Wanna come?”

Ciel cringed at the thought of touching slimy frogs. “No..” He says quietly. Carl sighed.

He could constantly be studying and learning the japanese language all day, every day if he wanted. It gave him something to do, something interesting, instead of scavenging for food and avoiding the freaks.

Ciel looks back to see a new man appear in the group. He wore a tank top, holding a bunch of squirrels and carrying a crossbow that Ciel couldn’t take his eyes off of.

Ever since he’s been with Ken, he’s been fascinated by interesting and rare weapons. It’s rare whenever they come across them. 

Ken has a katana. Ciel got to use it a few times, but since it's too big for him to even use properly, Ken keeps it with him.

He promised Ciel to teach him how to use a sword as he got older and bigger, and look around for another sword that he could use.

Ciel felt exhausted, despite not doing anything for the hours he was awake.

He yawns, “I’m going to take a nap...” He mumbles.

“What? Um... Okay” Carl responds. He wanted to mention the chores everyone has, but wasn’t sure if Ciel was getting special treatment and not having to do any.

Ciel walks towards his tent, but stops when he heard Rick, Shane and the other man talk about Merle.

He looks back and looks at Shane, who glances back at him for a moment before he remains focused on the other man.

“There was a problem in Atlanta.” Shane says, moving around a lot.

Daryl looks around, then looks back at Shane. “He dead?” he says and walks to the side

“We’re not sure...” Shane responds.

Ciel looks at Rick, who looks back at him. Ciel wasn’t sure if he felt guilty, or should confess to this man who could probably kill him if he wanted to.

Did he look guilty? _Did he feel guilty_? He had a lot of questions. 

“He either is or he ain’t!” Daryl shouts

Rick moves closer to Daryl, “No easy way to say this, so I’ll just say it”

He stands closer to Daryl, and Daryl asks, “Who are you?”

“ _Rick Grimes_ ”

“ _Rick Grimes_. You got something you wanna tell me?”. The tone Daryl speaks in, makes Ciel feel anxious

“Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He’s still there”

“Hold on, lemme process this.. You’re sayin you handcuffed my brother to a roof” His voice begins to get louder, “And you left him there?!”

“Yeah” Rick casually says

Daryl's body language shows just how much he’s upset, but he seems like the type of guy who’d hurt anyone when he was mad. Other than throwing the squirrels he caught at Rick, and tries to tackle him.

Glenn pokes Ciel’s head, and he turns around to face him, “Are you gonna tell him?” He whispers. He gives Glenn a confused look. “Are you gonna tell Daryl you dropped the key?”

Ciel sighs, and nods.

Ciel turns around and sees Shane and Rick holding back Daryl. Glenn stays by Ciel’s side.

“I’d like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that?” Rick leans closer to Daryl who’s stuck in Shanes chokehold. “Do you think we can manage that?” Rick repeats himself.

Shane whispers something, and nods at Rick, then lets Daryl go.

“What I did was not on a whim, your brother does not work and play well with others”

He walks closer to Rick and Daryl

Daryl’s still on the ground, and Rick still kneels next to him as he talks to him

“I-its not his fault...” Ciel mumbles. Daryl and Rick look back at him and Glenn.

“I... Had the key and I dropped it..”

“You couldn’t pick it up?!” Daryl snaps

“I dropped it over the ledge...” Ciel says. Still, not feeling guilty whatsoever, but acts as if he does just to make the possibility of him getting hit, lower.

Daryl scoffs, and slowly stands up. He walks, “If you think that makes me feel any better, it don’t”

He walks around, angrily. “What kind of idiot would give the handcuff key to a damn kid?”

“Watch it” Glenn snarled at him

“I—“ Ciel takes a deep breath. Everyone looks at him, “I locked the doors... With a padlock. Before I left... He’s still alive on that roof. I don’t think any freaks can break through it...”

Since arriving at the camp, Ciel doesn’t talk much. It surprises Glenn to hear him speak so much compared to before.

“Hell with all of ya’ll. Tell me where he is, so’s I can go get him”

“He’ll show you. Isn’t that right?” Lori says

Rick shifts around, and nods slowly. “I’m goin’ back”

Ciel had a feeling Rick would do that. He wanted to go too, but he knew nobody would let him.

Ciel goes to his tent to sleep. He feels Daryl’s gaze. He’s mad at Ciel, but won’t say anything since he’s just a kid.

It still makes him feel uncomfortable.

He gets into his tent, lays on the blankets and sleeps.

As he drifts off, he hears everyone talking about Rick wanting to leave again.

He sleeps for around 3 hours.

It's surprising that everyone let him sleep for so long. But he woke up screaming again. His nap ruined by the constant nightmares, the constant fear that lies within him at all times.

He knows he’s sleeping, but he can literally feel hands touching him everywhere. He can feel the women holding his arms and legs down and spreading them apart, exposing him as the men felt around his weak little body.

The people touching him isn’t all he can feel.

He can feel _everything_ else they did to him. The marks they put on him to claim his body as theirs. All the fear, the uncomfortableness, the unbearable and stinging pain within his body that lasted days, or weeks until, and even after Ken saved him.

He _needs_ Ken. His nightmares became less frequent when he spent the first few days with Ken. He always knew Ken was close by, and that he wasn’t still stuck in that church, or stuck in the hands of monsters anymore.

He screams as if he’s back to the day when they claimed his body. It wasn’t the many people inappropriately touching his body this time. It was the horrifying pain of feeling, not only something sharp carve into his arm, but the feeling of his skin melting from the burning metal.

He tries not to look at it. It disgusted him, and he’s surprised he even survived that much pain at such a young age. He can feel all of that. He sees it all, hears it all.

He wishes he could just... die. And not have to deal with the pain any longer. He screams louder when someone holds his arms and shakes him. He wakes up, wide eyed, and sees Lori. Her eyes are just as wide, and full of worry.

Ciel gasped, choking on air. He feels it’s been long enough since he’s been separated from Ken. He escapes Lori’s grasp, and runs out of the tent where he sees everyone standing nearby.

Ken has to be nearby. _He has to be..._ Somehow. 

Andrea walked towards Ciel, but once she heard Ciel call for someone they don’t know. She stops.

“Ken?!” He cries out, as loud as he can.

“Ken?! Are you here?! KEN!” He collapses on his knees not far from his tent, and bursts into tears. “KEN! Please... You’ll be safe here, I promise. I need you..” He sobbed.

Lori looks at Shane, unsure of what Ciel is doing. Was he still dreaming? Was he going crazy? Nobody knew, they all — Including Carl— Watched Ciel calling for someone they weren’t aware of.

“KEN?!” Ciel calls desperately one last time

They all hear rustling in the bushes nearby, and finally. He steps out and shows himself. 


	5. Chapter 5

Shane pops his gun up instantly at the tall, unknown man who suddenly entered their territory.

“Ciel...” Ken mumbled. Ciel looks up, then looks at Shane who continues to point his gun at Ken

Ciel stares at the grass beneath him, his hands turn into to a fist, ripping out the grass as he begins to gasp for air, unable to actually breathe anymore. Ken decides to risk getting shot to calm Ciel down.

He knows Ciel has to be comforted when he’s in this state. It's only normal for a child, but also because if he isn’t comforted and relaxes, it just gets worse. And he could possibly die from the lack of oxygen entering his body.

“K-K—“ Ciel tries to say his name, and Ken holds Ciel closely to him. His arms wrap around Ciel’s small, trembling body. “Shh...” Ken hushes as he brushes his fingers through Ciel’s surprisingly soft hair, “Remember to breathe.” He whispered.

Ciels crying stops, and he just breathes deeply, feeling Ken embrace him. Hug him. Creating that safety bubble around them both.

Lori is shocked at how quickly he relaxed. At how this stranger can comfort Ciel, when not even she nor Rick could do that. 

It wasn’t just that, that everyone found to be odd. Ken… Was quite a.. _Giant_ man. Compared to Ciel, who was literally half the size of Ken. He was less than half.

Shane lowered his gun, and Ken avoids looking at anyone, focusing on Ciel.

He whispers to Ciel, “Even if you can’t see me, I’m always here. Remember?” 

Ciel sighs against Ken’s hard chest, and rests his eyes. His body gets tired quickly after an episode like that.

Lori walks towards Ciel once she senses he’s asleep. It’s like a mother’s instinct to care for him, so she motions herself to pick him up, and get him away from Ken, but Ken held out his hand as a way to tell her to stop.

He gets up and walks to Ciel’s tent. Ken slowly and gently lowers Ciel into his cot and covers him with his blankets.

“ _J_ ust rest, now. I’m here..” Ken mumbled, moving the hair out of Ciel’s face. 

As soon as he steps out of the tent, Shane, Morales, and Jim point weapons at him. Ken is about to grab his sword, but looks at a now sleeping Ciel and doesn’t. He raises his hands instead.

“Who the hell are you?” Shane aggressively asks.

“Ken Orlov. I’ve been watching you since he arrived, if I wanted to hurt anyone, I would’ve done it by now.” He raised his hands, proving he wasn’t a threat.

“Why haven’t you shown yourself?” Lori asks

Ken crosses his arms, and sighs. He looks at Ciel, and remembers the terrible people who still exist in this world. He frowns.

They all look at the way Ken looks at Ciel, and _kind of_ believe he’s a good guy.

“I think we can trust him...” Andrea states

Shane raises his eyebrow, and glares at her, “What?” He says.

“Didn’t you see the way he comforted Ciel so quickly?” Amy adds.

“Ya’ll are ridiculous. It could be some kind of act!” Shane says, childishly.

“Think what you want. Don’t mix me up with some sort of hero. All I want is to keep Ciel safe, not any of you can get in the way of that.” He sighs. “I’ve seen the way your group works. You’re all weak.”

“Wow...” Amy scoffs out. Regretting backing up Andrea.

“But—“ Ken adds, “It's no use for him to be alive if he’s miserable. He seems to care about you guys.”

“How do you know him?” Lori asks.

“I met him a few weeks ago.”

“That's all you’re gonna tell us?” Lori asks, “That’s _my_ son. I think at least I deserve to know a little more.”

Ken raised an eyebrow. _This must be his adoptive mother_ , He thought.

Remembering Ciel telling him all about his life, to give him some extra insight on the emotional damage that was already done.

”Well?” Lori crosses her arms and frowns at that stranger

Ken sighs annoyingly. “I can’t tell you anything. It’s up to Ciel.”

“Why can’t you?” Shane asks.

“It's complicated.” Ken responds flatly. 

“I don’t give a shit if it’s complicated. You’re a man we don’t know, and you’ve been with Ciel for-for weeks and he’s.. Different than he used to be. Maybe you’re the one to cause that.” Lori snarled at him, “You hurt hi—“

Ken sighed annoyingly. “I’m gonna stop you right there, Lori—“

“How do you know her name?” Shane asked. 

Ken chuckled, “I know all about her, and Carl, and Rick. He’s told me about you guys.”

“Ken?” Ciel muttered. Ken turns around, and Shane raises his gun at him. Ken looks at him from the corner of his eye. Having a gun pointed at him doesn’t scare Ken, and he proceeds to check on Ciel.

“ ** _Whats happening?_** ” Ciel mumbles 

Everyone looks at him, confused hearing Ciel speak another language.

“ ** _Did someone hurt you? Are you—_** ”

Ken chuckles, “ ** _I told you to rest.._** “ Then he takes a deep breath, “ ** _No. I’m fine. And I’m not going anywhere_** ”

Ciel sighs in relief and gets out of the tent. He stands closely to Ken. He didn’t want to sleep for long. Ken showing up could’ve been some kind of.. Dream.

“Ciel, who is this man?” Shane asks.

Ciel squints his eyes at Shane, not liking the way he looks at Ken, or the tone he used.

“Ken…”

“We know his name, but why is he here?” He says more aggressively

“He’ll always be with me...” Ciel mumbles

“You trust him, right?” Carl asks

Ciel looks at him. “Carl..” Lori quietly warns. Ciel nods.

“If Ciel trusts him... I do too.” Carl says. He looks at Ken, who still looks quite expressionless despite caring so much about a kid.

“Well?” Shane asks. “How did you meet this man?”

“Don’t pressure him.” Ken warns. 

“Shut up!” Shane snaps. Ciel jumps

“Shane, calm down!” Andrea orders

“What? You’re joking right? I don’t trust him. He’s been watching the camp for a day, I mean how do we know he’s alone? He could be a pervert, or a murderer. I mean, Ciel isn’t much younger than Carl,” Shane snaps. “He could be manipulating Ciel for all we know.”

Ciel looks up at Ken, and Ken avoids eye contact with anyone else.

Ken sighs. “I have no reason to do any of that. I’ve known Ciel for weeks. And I don’t find satisfaction or entertainment from peeking in on people. Neither women, or children.” He turns to face Shane. “Let me get one thing straight.. _Shane_. I don’t care if you knew Ciel before everything went to shit,” His eyes stroll around to the group who are also listening. “If I feel that any of you are a danger to Ciel, I won’t hesitate to hurt you to get him away from here. So far he seems to like it here, and I don’t want to jeopardize that. As long as he’s safe, we won’t have an issue.”

“We can keep him safe.” Shane says.

The expression Ken makes indicates he doesn’t believe they can protect Ciel. Not as good as he can.

“Not as much as I can. I’m not only keeping him safe, but I make him feel safe, which isn’t something you people can seem to do.”

“Are you... talking about the nightmares?” Lori asks

“Uh. Ken...” Ciel mumbles. He kneels down to let Ciel whisper in his ear

Ken looks down at Ciel and nods. Ciel walks off.

“Hey, where you goin?” Carl yells out and runs after Ciel, to ask him more questions. 

“Why do you look like that?” Amy asks

“Like what?” Ken responds, raising an eyebrow.

“You don’t look scared, or worried. Or even mad. Your face just looks so blank.”

Ken isn’t sure what she means, but he also notices the slight blush on Amy’s face as he looks at her longer.

He squints his eyes at her, and smirks, and Andrea glares at Ken, but only for a moment.

As for the emotionless expression, in many ways he is emotionless. He killed those men who hurt Ciel without hesitation, without feeling guilty. He’d do it again if he had to. He’s even killed people before he saved Ciel. It’s no problem for him.

Although... He’d never kill anyone if there were no infected freaks wandering around.

He’s never cared for someone as much as he cares for Ciel. He’s not sure why, but doesn’t question it too much. He doesn’t think of Ciel in an inappropriate way either, not only because of the things Ciel went through before Ken saved him, but because Ciel’s only a kid. Ken could easily pass as his father.

Ken’s never bothered to search for a lover. But he’s met some women and even men who liked his mysterious vibe. They all looked at him the way Amy did.

Dale clears his throat, and Ken averts his eyes from Amy to look at Dale who was glaring at him.

“I’m too exhausted to argue.” Ken says. “By the way, the dead one you saw earlier wasn’t the only one nearby.” Ken yawns.

“What do you mean?” Lori asks

“I’ve killed about 4 of those things in the past day. I fell asleep, which is why that other one showed up.”

“You kept walkers away from camp?” Andrea asks, sounding grateful and more convinced they can trust Ken

He shrugs, then Ciel and Carl come back. Ciel stands closely next to Ken, and Carl next to Ciel.

He nods. “That's what you call them? Walkers?”

Amy nods.

“Interesting..”

She blushes at Ken.

“Would you like to eat, or sleep for awhile?” Lori offers

Ken shrugged, and nodded 

“No. He’s not—“

“Shane... Please.” Ciel pleads.

“Fine, whatever.” He growls and storms off

“You can stay in Ciel’s tent. Carl’ll stay in mine...”

“What?” Carl complains. Lori chuckled, and was a bit hesitant about letting a grown man, a man she didn’t know, sleep in the same camp and let alone the same tent as her son. 

But Ken was right. Only he can give Ciel comfort and stop his panic attacks he has after waking up from a nightmare. And so far, he didn’t do or say anything to make them concerned for Ciel’s safety. He didn’t look at Ciel in a weird way, only showing his concern and dedication to protecting him.

Allowing a strange man into Ciel’s tent - Where he sleeps - was a big jump. A big risk. The adults would talk later when Rick and Glenn got back, making a plan to watch Ken _very_ closely.

Later on, after resting and helping prepare the fish Andrea and Amy caught, Ken walks off, out in the bushes, followed by Amy.

Ciel sighed as he sat beside Carl. They both played with toy cars. He was thankful they didn’t question Ken too much after he showed up. He was scared they’d hurt him.

Ciel knows there's something a bit wrong with Ken.

As much as Ken appears to care, in a few ways he doesn’t. He can’t.

When they first met, Ken kept acting like what happened to Ciel was no big deal, and he should get over it if he wants to live. Ciel explained how he felt in detail. The humiliation he felt, the fear, everything.

It then clicked when Ken realized Ciel is just a kid, and was surrounded by messed up, religious, idiots and the dead walking around and eating people

He can’t understand what Ciel means when he explains his emotions. But he’s learned and adapted to know when Ciel is bothered, or scared, and when it involves the traumatizing things he’d gone through.

Ciel appreciates him trying his best to show he cares, even if he doesn’t understand. 

Ciel had left to go down to the water to relax, cool down and be alone. Lori followed him a few minutes after. She stood next to him

“Ciel? Sweetie?” She says softly, to let him know she was there. He doesn’t look back at her, or respond. He just lets his body cool down in the water.

She kneels next to him, and brushes her hand through his hair. “Are you sure we can trust Ken?” She asks

“Yes.” Ciel quietly, but confidently answers.

“He’s a good person... He saved me...” Ciel mumbles. Lori looks at him weirdly. Unsure what he means but won’t push for answers yet. She’ll let him talk to her first. 

“And that language you spoke earlier with him? What was that?”

“He used to live in Japan. He’s teaching me the language they speak there.” He still hasn’t looked at Lori. He remains looking at the water, or the rocks, or the sky and clouds.

Lori sighs, “Well.. Come back up and eat. You haven’t eaten anything since this mornin’”

Ciel sighs and gets up. They walk back to camp. He only just realized how dark it's getting.

When they reach camp, Andrea hands Ciel a fish. “Where’s Ken?” He asks.

Andrea knows fully well where he is. She saw him and Amy wander off.

She’d normally be upset that someone is most likely fooling around with her little sister, but nowadays it’ll be tough to find someone to be with. Besides, she was just assuming things.

She glances at Lori, then looks back at Ciel and shrugs, “I... Don’t know.” She says slowly and smiling.

Ciel didn’t understand why she smiled like that. He’s still too young to understand any of that stuff.

He sits beside Carl and eats his fish. He hates water-meat, as he called it. He never liked seafood, or fish. He’ll make an exception now since food is hard to find.

They all sit around a campfire, eating fish. It’s been awhile since Ciel saw Ken. He wondered where he was.

He’d never thought he’d enjoy eating fish. Everyone else seemed to like it too. Amy finally comes back, but without Ken. They all look at her weirdly, which makes her blush

“Where's Ken?” Andrea asks, clearly teasing her

“How should I know...” She says with an unenthusiastic shrug. She was playing dumb.

A few of the adults chuckle at her, then look over to see Ken walking towards them from the same direction Amy was. He was fiddling with his belt.

He grabs some food and sits next to Ciel. Ciel is oblivious, which annoys him but he focuses on the fish.

Sofia shows up and joins everyone else. She sits by Ciel, and Carol comes back to give her some food, she even gives Ken a bottle of beer. He thanks her for her consideration, which he didn’t expect from anyone in the group.

“Hey,” Sophia greets Ciel. 

“Hello..” Ciel quietly responds.

“Liking the fish?” She asks.

“It’s tasty..”

“Yep.”

“Hey, man, I gotta ask you man. It’s been driving me crazy,” Morales looks at Dale. 

“What?”

“That watch…”

Dale looks at his watch, “What’s wrong with my watch?”

“I see you everyday, the same time, winding that thing, like a village priest saying mass”

“I’ve wondered this myself.” The kind lady Ciel met in Atlanta adds

“I’m missing the point...” Dale says back

“Unless I’ve misread the signs, the world seems to have come to an end. At least hit a speed bump for a good long while.”

“But there’s you, everyday winding that stupid watch.” Morales jokes with Dale.

“Time — It’s important to keep track, isn’t it? The days at least. Don’t you think, Andrea?” Dale looks at Andrea, who looks at him funny. “Back me up here”

Andrea chuckles and takes a sip of beer.

“I like what, um, a father said to son when he gave him a watch. That had been handed down through generations. He said, _‘I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs, no better than it did mine or my fathers before me; I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment. Now and then, and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it’_ ”

“You are so weird..” Amy says, killing the silence. Ciel looks beside him, and notices how Amy leans on Ken. He seems to be unbothered by it, or didn’t even notice it. He doesn’t laugh along with everyone else. 

“It’s not me, it’s Faulkner. William Faulkner. Maybe my bad paraphrasing.”

Amy stands up, and Andrea looks at her. “Where’re you going?”

“I have to pee. Jeez, you try to be discreet around here.” She says as she walks farther away. The group laughed again.

Andrea clears his throat, “So Ken.”

Ken looks at her.

“What were you doing before all this?”

Ken shrugged.

“Come on, tell us. If you’re gonna in our group now, we should get to know you.” 

Ken sighed, setting down his fishless plate, “I lived in Japan for 9 years. I came back here because my father died and I was supposed to be there for the funeral. I never showed up, and just… Hung around for awhile, I guess.” He responds, then taking a sip of his beer.

“I’m sorry about your dad..” Andrea says sadly. Ken gave her an odd look, then shrugs, “Don’t be.”

”You grow up here?” 

Ken nods.

”Mm.. I didn’t.” Andrea chuckled softly. Ken frowned then took a sip of beer. 

Andrea faintly smiles at Ken, then turns over to Lori. “Okay, and what’s the story with Ciel and Glenn?”

“Well... Rick and I officially adopted Ciel when he was 8. His parents were… dead, and none of his siblings were able to provide for Ciel. We never met them, but we knew they were too young to care for himzl

Lori smiles at Carl and Ciel.

“He wasn’t meant to stay with us for so long, but it quickly began to feel normal to have him with us. We just decided to make it officialzl

The trailer door opens, and Amy shouts about the toilet paper, then suddenly screams. Everyone looks over at her and see’s 3 walkers, and one of them is biting her arm.


	6. Chapter 6

“Ciel, stay behind me.” Ken says, making him stay close to him as everyone stands up in a panic.

Shane starts firing at the walkers that start appearing from the woods behind them, and everyone else runs off or grabs the guns and defend themselves

Ken gives Ciel a handgun, “Remember what I taught you?” He asks. Ciel nods, “Stay close to Lori and Carl, I need to get closer to help.”

Ken walks off, followed by Shane who shoots the walkers around Ken as he rushes to get the walkers away from Amy, slicing some walker heads in half on his way.

Amy is bitten again, but on her neck this time. Ken took his knife out and pushed it in it’s head and caught Amy before she fell to the ground. She was crying and gurgling on her own blood.

Andrea’s behind him, and crawls over beside Ken and Amy. Andrea continues to try and help Amy, but can’t.

Ken then walks away, letting Andrea attempt to comfort her. Ken helps kill the other walkers.

“Behind you!” Ken shouts at Shane, who turns around and shoots at a walker who was sneaking up behind them. Shane nods at Ken.

Ciel sticks close to Lori and Carl, keeping an eye out for any walkers nobody has gotten to. Carl grabs Ciel’s hand, holding it tightly. Ciel holds his hand back. 

Ken continues to kill the walkers with his katana. There's too many of them to fight, so he and the others back away, standing beside Shane to protect the women and the children.

Then Rick, T-Dog, Glenn and Daryl show up and get rid of the rest of the walkers.

Glenn quickly ran to Ciel, “You okay?” he quickly asked. Ciel nods, and Glenn runs off to kill more walkers

Ken moves to help out to help quicken the process. It doesn’t take long until all the walkers nearby are killed, thanks to the others arriving. Carl runs to Rick, both of them are crying.

Ciel’s heart is racing, but it's not from fear this time. Surely, it was scary, but it also felt fun to Ciel. Exciting, even.

Ken stood by Ciel, cleaning off his katana covered in blood. He kneeled next to Ciel and checked his head for any injuries. “You good?” He asks

Ciel nods. Ken is a little surprised that he doesn’t look scared.

Glenn walks to Ciel, and hugs him, Ciel felt Glenn’s heart beating… Very fast.

Ken looks over to Andrea and Amy, and walks over. He kneels next to Andrea, and realizes Amy is dead.

She cries even harder, and falls into the arms of Ken, who wasn’t expecting her to do that. He doesn’t know how to comfort a woman who just lost her sister. So all he did was awkwardly pat her arm.

He knows how to comfort Ciel, only because Ciel told him how he felt. The intense fear from what happened, and he learned, able to read his expressions, body language, and to know how he feels based on how he speaks.

It was different than comforting someone else. Someone he didn’t necessarily care about

In Ken’s mind, it doesn’t matter who dies when. Everyone dies at some point, and can’t understand why people think it's “unfair” and react so dramatically.

He’s learned over the past few years to keep those thoughts to himself, since it causes unnecessary conflict. Besides, he knows he might be as dramatic, or almost as dramatic as a normal person if Ciel died.

He lets Andrea do what she needs to do, which lasts for 20 minutes. Ken moves her arms to Amy’s body instead, so Ken can move.

“Sorry man..” Shane says to Ken.

“For what?”

“Uh.. Didn’t you and..” Shane clears his throat. “You and Amy?”

Ken still looks confused, then realizes what he’s trying to say. He shrugs and walks to Ciel. “How you doin’?”

Ciel shrugs

“It's late. Try and sleep.”

“Will you come sleep too?” Ciel asks.

“Yeah..” he responds

Ciel and Ken walk to the tent, that luckily wasn’t blown to bits or trampled on by freaks

Ken makes sure Ciel is comfortable before he crawls into his own “bed”

In the morning, Ken lets Ciel sleep in, since Ken wakes up really early.

By the time everyone else woke up, or those who just got out of their tents, Ken had already organized the freaks who were killed, and the people who were in the camp. He’d just started stabbing the people who died in the head, but was given some time to relax since he’s been moving around on his own.

Even 3 hours after he woke up, Ciel was still asleep, so Ken went to get him out of bed to help out.

Ciel oddly slept without nightmares despite what happened the night before. Which confused the remaining campers who were alive. Ciel saw Andrea pointing her gun at Rick when he tried to talk to her, and Rick slowly walked back.

The rest of the group help out to begin burning the freaks corpses, and begin to bury their dead friends.

Ciel and Carl head down to the lake to take a break.

Not that they had to do much, Lori had to convince Ken to let Ciel take it easy. Ken is quite an active man, he can’t stand around doing nothing.

Ciel didn’t mind helping. But there wasn’t much he could do with his height and weak body.

They stop walking when Jacqui outed Jim, letting everyone know he was infected. Everyone surrounds him, and the way Jim claims he’s fine, and how he’s walking, it's clear he isn’t.

Carl is still frightened from last night. Ciel could see it in his eyes.

“Come on..” He says, taking Carl’s hand and walking down to the lake.

All the adults discuss what to do with Jim.

“I say we put a pickaxe in his head and the dead girls and be done with it.” Daryl says

“Is that what you’d want if it were you?” Shane asks, as if Daryl said something wrong

“Yeah, and I’d thank you while you did it.”

“Daryl’s right. He’s a deadman walking and Amy can turn any second. It’ll make things go faster if we just finish them off. It’s painless that way.” Ken says, his arms were crossed. He seemed unbothered.

“Hold on... Who are you?” Glenn asks Ken

“Ken. Orlov.”

“W-When did he show up?”

“Yesterday, he’d been watching us since Ciel and Rick got here apparently.” Shane says. It's clear how he still doesn’t quite trust Ken

“I’m... a... friend of Ciel’s.” Ken says awkwardly.

Glenn and Rick look at Ken weirdly, but believe him since Ciel stuck close to Ken when the freaks intruded their camp.

“I’m, uh, Glenn, his brother.” He introduces himself

“Rick Grimes.” Rick says firmly, and shakes Ken’s hand.

Rick has a lot of questions for Ken. Wondering if maybe he was who Ciel was with during the first few weeks of the outbreak.

“I never thought I’d say this but I agree with Ken and Daryl.” Dale says.

“Jim’s not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog.”

“I’m not suggesting—“ Rick interrupts Dale, “He’s sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?”

“The lines pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers, or them to be.” Daryl speaks out

“What if we can get him help. I heard the CDC was working on a cure.”

“I heard that too. Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell.” Shane adds

“What if the CDC is still up and running?”

“Man, that is a stretch right there.”

“Why? If there's any government left, any structure at all, they’d protect the CDC at all costs, wouldn’t they? I think it’s our best shot. Shelter, protection—“

“This is what I meant by weak.” Ken interrupts.

Everyone glares at Ken, “Excuse me?” Rick says.

“You’ll all learn sooner or later how this new world works. What you need to start doing to survive.”

“What would you do then?” Lori asks.

“Kill the man. He’s already gonna die, but it’ll be slow, and complete hell for him. He’s dead already, there's no saving him, or anyone in his situation.” Ken stated. Shane sighed annoyingly.

“See, this guy knows what's up.” Daryl says.

They continue to talk about whether or not they’ll go to the CDC or Fort Benning.

“The Military were on the front lines of this thing. They got overrun, we’ve all seen that!” Rick argues. “The CDC is our best choice and Jim’s only chance!”

“You go looking for Aspirin, do what you need to do. Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!” Daryl gets fed up with arguing and attacks Jim, but stops when Rick points his gun at him

“Hey Hey Hey!” Rick yells. “We don’t kill the living.”

Ken knows he doesn’t have much of a say in anything, since he only just arrived a day ago, but he knows from experience, killing human beings who are alive, is the only way to survive; especially when they’re a threat. He’s annoyed that nobody understands that, except Daryl.

Daryl angrily puts down the axe and storms off. Rick brings Jim somewhere else, and Ken decides to check on Ciel.

He see’s Ciel and Carl dipping their feet in the water. He’s not sure if they’re talking or not, but decides to give them space for awhile.

“You okay?” Ciel asked quietly. Carl shrugged. “Just still.. Processing what happened last night.. It was really scary…”

Ciel sighs, “Yeah.” He lied. He wasn’t scared last night.. It was more of a rush. Even so, he fully knows what it’s like to be scared, so he hugged Carl. 

“We’ll be okay..” He whispered, Carl nodded and took a deep breath. 

Ken was helping with the bodies again. Rick, Glenn, Lori and Shane begin to discuss the situation with Ciel and Ken.


	7. Chapter 7

Rick sighs. “Do you really think we can trust him?” 

“I don’t know. But Ciel likes him. He did help us last night too. I can’t believe I’m saying this about a stranger.. But I think we should trust Ciel with this. We know how Ciel has good intuition, we’ve all seen it. If he feels safe around this man, so be it. I have a feeling he would be devastated if we made him leave. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be cautious around him, watching him to make sure he really isn’t some kind of creep.” Lori says.

“Something feels off about him. I don’t trust him, but for now I think we should let him stay, just for Ciel’s sake.” Glenn says

“He could be brainwashed or tricked into thinking this guy is safe. Nobody knows what the boy went through since everything went to shit, and he let his guard down easily from... Who knows? Maybe he was the only person he came across who offered help and couldn’t be by himself” Shane says, “He’s younger than Carl for Christ’s sake. He—“

“Alright, relax.” Rick interrupts, “Let’s just keep our eyes on him. Watch what he does, how he interacts with Ciel and everyone else. Including the kids. Then we can decide what to do.”

Everyone agrees and Shane walks off to help with the corpses. Glenn, Rick and Lori stay and look at Ciel who’s talking with Ken. Ciel weakly smiles at Ken 

“What do you think happened to him?” Lori asks, hugging her own body as they watch.

“I don’t know. But theres this constant look in his eyes. Its definitely fear. A lot of it, but it doesn’t look like its from the walkers.”

“You think people hurt him?” Glenn asks worryingly, “Maybe Ken hurt him?”

Rick shrugs. “Who knows. We’ll just have to wait until he tells us I guess.. It might make things worse if we pressure him to answer that.”

Later on, everyone watches Andrea put Amy’s dead body into the grave. Dale kept trying to help, but she preferred to do it all alone.

Ciel stands next to Ken. He looks up at him and wonders what Ken is thinking.

He wipes sweat off his forehead, only for the sweat on his arm to mix in with the sweat on his head.

They all walk off, Rick and Lori talk alone. Ciel walks to Carl, “Are you okay?” He asks

Carl shrugs. “I guess so. I’m just sad that Amy died.”

“She was nice..”

“Yeah...”

Ciel sighs. He sits down in the shade. “It’s so hot out here.”

“I’m sure we’ll get moving soon” Ken says “Once these people figure out what they want to do.”

Ciel looks up at Ken, his arms are crossed and he looks annoyed. “What do you think we should do?” Ciel asks

“The CDC may have been overrun just like any other place. They’re just putting that man through hell for nothin.”

“So you’re saying we kill Jim?” Carl asks, sounding offended

“He’s already gonna die. He’s just suffering right now.”

Ciel sighs.

Carl looks down, “I’m... gonna ask mom if we have time to cool down by the water again..” He mumbles

“Okay..”

Carl walks off to find Lori.

“What do you think of everyone?” Ciel asks Ken

“What do you mean?”

“Well... Do you think we should stay?”

“I figured you’d want to. Because of Carl, Rick, Lori and Glenn. Why would you want to leave?”

Ciel sighs. “I’m okay being anywhere you are. They’re better off without me.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I feel like I’m just.. a burden.”

“Hm..” Ken raises an eyebrow.

Ciel and Ken go sit with everyone else when Shane and Rick return from their sweep.

“I’ve known this man a long time. I trust his instincts. I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning. Okay?” Shane says.

Rick walks off, and the rest discuss what they want to do.

“So I guess we’ll stay with them?” Ciel looks at Ken

“Yeah, I think it’s worth a shot.” Ken responds

“Okay..”

* * *

In the morning, everyone packed their things and started getting ready to leave. Morales says he and his family are going somewhere else.

Carl and Sofia say their goodbyes to Eliza and Luis, then say goodbye to Ciel.

Ciel and Ken ride with Glenn in the trailer

They all drive towards the CDC in hopes of saving Jim.

Although. A few hours later, the trailer is breaking down. Since Rick never came back with the cube van they needed.

Ciel was asleep

Ken and Andrea stand next to each other outside.

“She liked you, you know..” Andrea says.

“What?”

“Amy. I saw how she looked at you. And noticed how you were gone in for awhile before...” She trails off

Ken doesn’t respond. He’s not quite sure how to.

Andrea sighs, “I can see you’re a good man. It took me awhile but after seeing how much you care about Ciel.. Helping last night. It really shows”

Andrea brushes her hand on his arm and walks back to the trailer as Rick steps out.

Ken checks up on Ciel, and sees him still sleeping.

Ken turns around and sees Rick and Shane bringing Jim out of the trailer, leaning him against the tree.

His respect for the group has lowered even more. Although, he wouldn’t know what the best thing to do is, since both Rick and Shane’s plans sound like a silly dream. If he answered Ciel’s question, he would’ve told him he also would rather travel around only with Ciel. He’s a good listener, he’s quiet, his intuition even impresses him.

But if he’d told Ciel that, Ciel would want to leave, and be on their own, just like Ken wants. Even Ken can notice how much he likes being around Carl and Glenn. He wouldn’t want Ciel to be alone all his life, even if that sounds peaceful enough for him. 

Besides, being in a group might ensure his possibility for survival. His and Ciel’s. On his runs, he’s occasionally run into some bad, messed up people. He’s had to kill them, too. He’s lucky they were terrible fighters, and let their guard down too quickly with Ken; believing every word he said. 

Who knows what would happen if he ran into someone who’s messed up, and tried to hurt Ciel. Ken wouldn’t let that happen, but if there were a group of people? He might not be able to do anything about it. He can’t exactly keep Ciel safe if he’s dead. 

Ken sighed, and went into Shane’s jeep, as the others went in the trailer or the other cars.

They finally arrive at the CDC. It’s close to getting dark out, but they are still hopeful.

Ken wakes Ciel up, and they walk towards the building.

Ciel covered his mouth from the foul smell from the many dead bodies as they get closer to the entrance.

Ken and Ciel walk closely together, and Glenn sticks to Ciel’s other side. Ken keeps his hand on Ciel, even as they reach the door to the CDC building.

Shane and Rick try to open it, but it doesn’t open. Daryl gets mad at Rick, and the group tries to figure out what to do

“We can’t be this close to the city after dark!” Lori says. Carl whines at her side.

“Fort Benning, Rick. Still an option.” Shane says.

“On what? No food, no fuel. That’s 100 miles.”

“125. I checked the map.” Glenn corrects.

Carl starts crying, and the adults panic as it gets more dark.

“What’re we gonna do?” Ciel quietly asks Ken.

Ken wonders if he should just take Ciel somewhere else. Somewhere safe, and leave the group behind. Only being around one other person is safer than being in a group.

They start leaving, and Rick starts yelling at the camera. Walkers show up and Shane has to drag Rick away as he screams.

As soon as Rick complies to leaving, the doors open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a time jump for this chapter and the next. :P


	8. Chapter 8

Ciel, Ken and everyone else got let into the CDC, and met Dr. Jenner. Ciel suspected Jenner was keeping something from them, and was curious as to what he meant when he said the doors  stay  closed. 

But as soon as Jenner mentioned hot showers and offered dinner, he let it all slide. The hot water on his body felt nice. Every time he cleaned himself, it was always cold water, and usually a bath. 

He felt like he’s been the cleanest he’s ever been since the world went to shit. 

The food was good, the shower was amazing. He and Ken spent the night in one of the rooms Jenner offered. 

Despite trying to get used to the company of Ken, they all convinced Ken and Glenn to drink the alcohol that was there. 

Rick and Lori even allowed Carl and Ciel to try it. Ken didn’t, and took the cup they gave Ciel away. 

Later that night, Ken overheard Shane and Lori arguing, and witnessed what he almost did to Lori. 

He chuckled as he walked away once Shane did. Shane blamed _him_ for being a pervert, or a creep. Yet he attempted to rape Lori. 

Ciel and Glenn bond together, despite Glenn being drunk off his ass. Ciel enjoyed catching up with his long lost brother. He was rather funny when he was drunk. 

Glenn told Ciel about their father, their sisters, and had an even longer conversation about pizza and how they missed it. A lot.

The next morning, all the adults who’d drank were hungover, including Ken. Ciel teased him, and laughed. 

Ken pointed out Shane’s new scratch on his neck, subtly stating that he knew what he did. 

Their fun and feeling of safety quickly came to an end when they realized they were stuck in the building, and it was expected to explode when the clock hits 0

Unlike the others, Ken was calm during it all. If Ken panics, Ciel would start to panic. It was easy, since it’s rare when Ken gets nervous. 

Luckily, they managed to get out in time. Although, hours later they get stuck on the highway with a lot of abandoned vehicles. And a herd of walkers.

As the walkers went by, Ciel was with Carl under the car. He ran after Sofia with a knife he was given by Ken, once two walkers spotted her.

Ken taught Ciel how to kill walkers, even though he’s short. Ken quickly figured out that its better to kill walkers quietly, than to use guns. Ciel only resorts to defending himself if he has no choice. Otherwise, he’d stay back. 

After saving Andrea, Ken runs after Ciel once he sees him going after Sofi, but is stopped by Rick, saying he’ll get them both. 

Rick reached Ciel first and quietly shouted to tell him to go back as he ran past him. 

After a few days, and everyone left to search for Sofia, Carl got shot. 

Ciel witnessed it with Ken. Ken offered to carry Carl back to the farm the man responsible for shooting Carl told them about. He _was_ stronger. 

They got to the farm, Ciel was already there. He’d ran farther than the others since Rick was busy forcing Otis to continue running, but he was still panicking. 

Ciel got to the farm and told the family there that his brother got shot, and by the time Ken arrived with Carl, they were ready. 

Weirdly enough, Ken was mistaken to be Carl’s father, which the thought of Ken ever being a dad made Ciel chuckle. 

Rick finally got there with the other man.

Rick and Ken switched between donating blood to Carl, since Ken’s blood can be given to any other blood type.

An hour or so later Lori and Shane arrived with Hershel’s daughter.

There was still no sign of Sofia, and Ciel wished he’d stayed chasing her, since he could’ve helped her too. 

Later on, Shane and Otis went out to search for supplies for Hershel to do surgery on Carl. 

Ciel found some abandoned dice laying around Hershels house. He asked if he could keep them. 

This is when Ciel starts to collect any dice he comes across, since he enjoys stacking them. 

When Shane got back to the farm, with the supplies needed to save Carl, he got back without Otis, and an odd look on his face. Ciel wondered why the look on his face changed, as if he had a secret. 

He looked more scary..


	9. Chapter 9

When Shane got back, Ciel told Ken what he thought about Shane. The change in his eyes began to scare him.

Ken assisted with the surgery on Carl, then told Ciel that he would make sure he kept an eye on Shane, and promised to protect him if Shane loses it.

The morning after Shane got back, Dale, Andrea, Daryl and Carol got back too. Then came up with a plan to search for Sophia.

Ken and Maggie bonded. Maggie would subtly give Ken hints, and flirt before she’d gone to town with Glenn. They only fooled around once. And that was before he noticed how Glenn looked at Maggie. So, he started ignoring her requests for more, since after becoming slightly more friendly with Glenn and the others, he’s been more considerate. As much as he could be anyways

Ciel rarely left Carl’s side. He wanted to make sure he’d be okay.

Whenever he left the room Carl was in, he and Beth spent a lot of time together. He’d help her around the house, or keep her company. He liked it when she talked or sung. Her voice sounded very kind.

Ciel also went to tell Hershel how grateful he is for him helping Carl, then spent more time with Hershel’s family, helping them with anything else they needed help with.

Maggie taught Ciel how to be more careful with a knife when cutting food. Sean showed him how to chop wood, Patricia showed him how to stitch a deep cut

Ciel learned a lot being there. He figured it would be useful information for him to learn.

The first night everyone was there, Andrea and Ken wandered off farther away from the group, and fooled around. Ciel wondered where they were going so late at night.

When everyone was around their camp they set up not too far from Hershel’s house, Ciel mentioned he’d lost his hat he took from Atlanta.

Glenn got up, and gave his hat to him.

The next morning, Ciel was helping Carol with the laundry. Lori stepped out of her tent, and started to help too.

Ciel stayed close by the house to keep Carl company whenever he was awake. When Carl fell asleep, Ciel sat on the couch and played with his dice, and soon got tired, and fell asleep.

He had the same nightmare that has him waking up screaming. The one where every touch, every bit of pain comes back all at once. The disgusting sounds of their laughter, their moans and dirty grunts. It brings fear to another level. It makes him feel trapped in that nightmare. Even when he’s awake. He’s always there. 

Maggie was in the house and ran to him. Lori, Glenn, and Rick who were around the house went inside when Ciel didn’t quite stop.

Maggie asked why he was screaming in his sleep when Rick and Lori arrived. Glenn told her he has nightmares.

Ciel was drowsy when he “woke” up from his nightmare. He was sweating, which was bad since it was extremely hot outside already. Glenn was holding him closely, blowing on his forehead. 

He suggested Ciel cool off and took off his shirt that stuck to his skin, which was long sleeved to cover the cut on his arm.

Patricia left to put a cloth under cold water. 

Once his shirt was off, everyone got worried when they saw the deep scar on his arm and the “branding” on his lower back.

“What... Is that?” Lori asked, her face getting pale. “When did he get this?”

Ciel had gone back to sleep, his nightmare ended.

“Did Ken give that to him?” Glenn starts to feel mad. Angry they allowed Ken to be in their group

“I’ll check this out, make sure these have healed properly”

“Thanks, Maggie..” Lori says. She held Ciel’s hand tightly. She wondered what kinds of things Ciel had gone through.

She left when she heard Carl calling for her.

“I’m gonna go have a word with Ken.” Rick says and leaves, quite angered.

Maggie calls for Patricia, and they both check Ciel’s burn and cuts. Glenn stayed close in case he woke up. They all noticed how big, and thick the scar was. It showed signs of it still in progress of healing.

“This... He was burned” Patrica says quietly, slightly in shock from it. It was deep. It was bad. 

Maggie, Glenn and Patricia look at each other. Worriedly. “Well, it looks like it was taken well care of, so that’s good” Maggie adds.

They leave Ciel be after, and go talk to the others and let them know about Ciels condition.

They left Ciel, covered and on the couch with a cold cloth on his head, then heard a gunshot and ran outside.

The gunshot woke Ciel up. He sat up and almost ran too, but stopped and noticed he wasn’t wearing a shirt and panicked. Ken walked in from behind him, “Why aren’t you wearing a shirt? I thought you didn’t want these people to find out about these” His fingers gently poked his scar.

“I— I woke up like this...”

Later during the night, everyone was eating dinner. Everyone - But Shane who was on lookout. It was barely 10 minutes into dinner when Ciel finally found the courage and strength to find out if anyone saw his damaged body.

“R-Rick?” He mumbled.

Rick looks at Ciel, “Did you guys... See?”

Ciel hasn’t touched his food. He’s looking down at his hands, fiddling with his fingers.

“Yeah. We saw”

Ciel looks at Ken, and Ken nods.

“Did you do that?” Glenn asks Ken aggressively, dropping his fork and glaring at Ken.

Ken frowns and looks at him, “Of course not. I’m the one who kept them from getting infected”

“Ciel… How’d you get those injuries?” Lori asked

Ciel has tears in his eyes. He takes in a deep breath, “When things got bad… In the start. I was with a few people in a church after Cameron abandoned me. They fed me, kept me safe... For awhile...”

“What happened?” Glenn asked. 

“Th—“ The memory of the first time he was touched pop into his head, causing him to lose focus. 

Ciel looks at Ken, and Ken moved his chair to sit by Ciel so he can lean on him for extra comfort. “You don’t have to tell them.” Ken whispers.

“Like hell he doesn’t.” Rick snarled. 

“Hey, just give him a moment.” Hershel added.

“Can you do it?” Ciel asks. Ken nods. “I can’t..” 

Ciel took a deep breath, “I-I can’t... Ken knows everything... He’ll tell you..” He holds back tears as he leaves the house to go back to his tent.

Ken hesitates before he begins to tell the story. “It’s as he said. He was taken into a church, assuming he’d be safe there. It only took a few days before the people who took him in went.. crazy. As he put it. He heard them explain why they were hurting him when they lost it, but afterwards, he said he couldn’t focus on what they were saying.. The pain was too much”

Lori covers her mouth, and her eyes water. Glenn’s jaw clenched tightly.

“What-What’d they do?” Rick asks.

Ken gave him a look, brushing the side of his mouth with his thumb, leaning back into his chair and hoping he’d catch on. “No...” Rick mumbles. Ken nods slowly

“W-What?” Glenn asks

“Did they r—“

“Yeah.” Ken interrupts. The ‘r’ word is disturbing, even for him.

Everyone sits silently, waiting for Ken to continue. Glenn’s hands curl into fists, angered that someone hurt Ciel in such a way. Lori leaned into Rick, covering her mouth and trying to hold back her tears, unable to accept the fact her son was assaulted. 

“From the information I have, it was basically a cult. One thing Ciel said he remembered was their obsession with anything involving God, and perhaps, doing something to him for Ciel to be saved, then he could save them too, I think. A few weeks after that, it didn’t work. I guess things got worse for him. The day I met him, they had brought Ciel into town to start some sort of experiment.”

Lori and Rick hold each other, tears threatening to go down their faces as they learned what Ciel had to endure.

“They brought him there to... Mark him as theirs. Which is when he got those scars.”

Ken hesitated a bit brfore he continues speaking for Ciel. “I heard screaming from the pharmacy a few blocks away. By the time I got there, they just finished their little ‘experiment’ which involved.. branding him with burning hot iron, and.. With that cut on his arm.”

“Oh my god...” Andrea mutters.

“I—“ He breathes in. “Talked to him. They told me what he went through, the things they did to him. I guess.. I had to help him. I had to get him out of there.“

“You killed them. Didn’t you?” Lori says. Surprisingly she wasn’t bring judgemental or upset 

Ken slowly nods. “There weren't a lot of them. It took longer than I thought, but.. Yeah. And Ciel didn’t watch, he passed out from whatever else they did to him”

“Why did you save him? You don’t exactly seem like the type to care.” Shane says

Ken sighs and rubs his face. Contemplating whether or not he’ll open up to strangers.

“It reminded me of a situation I was in with one of my younger siblings a long time ago. They died, and I guess I felt like I had to help Ciel.”

Glenn shifts around uncomfortably

“I’m sorry.” Lori says. Ken shrugs.

“That's why you’ll do anything to protect him?” Glenn asks.

“Yeah.” Ken responds

“He’s not biologically our kid... But Ciel is still our son. I’d do anything for him” Lori says, rubbing the tears off her face.

“It's awful.. How much pain he must’ve felt. He’s so young too... I guess it explains why he’s so attached to you” Andrea says and Lori quietly cried. 

Ken sighed. They all somehow knew how bad it must’ve been if even Ken is affected just by telling the story. They haven’t known Ken very long, but it's easy to tell he doesn’t easily get affected by anything like most people.

Lori leaves the table, sobbing. Rick goes after her.

“That poor kid...” Beth says.

“He’s surrounded by good people who love him. I’m sure he’ll be okay, with time” Hershel says.

T Dog sighs, and is as sad as everyone from the story they just heard.

They continue to eat in silence, and agree to not talk to Ciel about it unless he brings it up first.

* * *

They stood outside on the porch, Rick slowly rubbing her back. ”Rick, how are we supposed to.. Help him? That’s—“ Lori starts sobbing

“We.. All we can do is show him we love him, give him space if he needs it”

Lori takes deep breaths, Rick rubs her back. “I just can’t believe he’d gone through something like that... Thing’s like that don’t happen here”

“Things happen. But I guess we have Ken to thank for saving him when he did. He’s safe now,” Rick makes Lori look at him, “He’s safe. He’s with us.. And he knows we love him.. Alright?”

Lori nods, “Yeah...” She sniffles, then hugs Rick, still crying. Rick was close to crying, too. But he had to stay strong for Lori, for Ciel and Carl. 

Ciel and Ken shared a tent, and as weird as it is, Ciel likes to feel Ken by him. Sleeping right next to him. Somehow he knows when he’s there and when he isn’t when he sleeps. It’s easier for him to sleep when he’s closer to Ken.

And Ken doesn’t mind. It keeps them both warm at night, which helps as it gets colder.


	10. Chapter 10

The next day, Shane took a few people out to teach them how to shoot. Ciel already knows how, thanks to Ken. But Ken left with them to help. 

Ciel stayed at the farm. He spent most of the day alone, exploring the farm, staring at the animals, watching for walkers or drawing in the dirt.

When Shane got back with the others, he and Carl walked around and talked. Shane walked off to do something else, Carl sat with Ciel.

Carl told Ciel how he hoped Sophia would be found, and she’d be safe. Eventually, Carl had to go back and rest, so Ciel was alone.

Hours went by, and it got dark. He overheard Rick and Lori arguing. He had suspicions that Lori was pregnant, but didn’t want to assume anything or bring it up, but that argument just confirmed his suspicions.

The next morning, everyone was eating breakfast by their camp.

Glenn gets everyone's attention, and tells them that there were walkers in the barn. Everyone went to investigate.

Shane was upset, and argued with Rick.

“Okay, we’ve either got to go in there, we’ve got to make things tight or we’ve just gotta go. Now we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time”

“We can’t go..” Rick says.

“Why, Rick, why?”

“Because my daughters still out there.” Carol defends

Shane gets more frustrated. “Okay, I think it's time we all start to just consider the other possibility”

“We’re not leaving Sophia behind”

“I’m close to finding this girl. I just found her damn doll two days ago!” Daryl snaps

As everyone continued to argue, Ciel walked away. He couldn’t be around that, since Shane scares him. Especially with how he’s yelling at Rick. 

As he walked away, he saw Ken walk out of Hershel’s house. He was followed by Maggie, and they both went to check on the horses. Ciel wanted to join them, but he felt tired and went back into the tent to lay down instead. He liked the warmth, despite it still being warm outside.

He ends up falling asleep, but luckily this time, he sleeps peacefully, sleeping throughout most of the day.

As he slept, Shane walked to the group to give a harsh speech.

He handed out the guns. He tries to give one to Carl. Then T Dog sees Rick and Hershel carrying walkers. Shane ran to them, and raged out.

Shane shoots the walker Hershel is holding in place, shooting it in the chest many times before finally killing it.

Ciel ran out of the tent and over to them, and watched as Shane had a tantrum. “Ken, what's happening?” Ciel walks beside him.

Ken doesn’t answer, and prepares himself to kill the walkers Shane starts to let out of the barn. Or.. To kill Shane, if it came to it. 

He, Shane, Andrea, Glenn, Daryl and T-Dog take their guns off the safety, and shoot the walkers that left the barn. Ciel stuck closely to Ken’s side.

Finally they stop shooting once they’re all dead

Or so the group thinks..

A minute later, another walker comes out slowly. Sofia.

She has a big bite on her neck. Carol ran towards her, sobbing, but Daryl held her back.

Carl cries and Lori holds him. As she gets closer to them, Rick walks towards Sofia, and shoots her in the head.

Beth walked to one of the walkers, crying and holding it. The walker grabbed onto her, and Andrea killed it before it bit her. Beth continued to cry.

Everyone stands around, still in shock after seeing Sophia.

Shane followed as Hershel brought Beth to their home, accusing them of keeping Sofia in the barn.

Maggie slapped Shane as he got closer to them, possibly to hurt one of them. Hershel demanded Shane leave his farm.

Ken and Ciel talk, alone.

Ken grabs ahold of Ciel’s wrist, then slides it up his arm, past his elbow. “Are you eating?”

Ciel doesn’t answer.

“Well?”

Ciel sighs, “Not really”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t been hungry”

Ken sighs. “I get you’re a small kid, but this is ridiculous”

“I’m not that s—You’re just a giant!”

“Doesn’t matter, you’re too fucking tiny for your age. Go get something to eat. Or I’ll stop teaching you things”

“Well... If I die then its your fault”

Ken chuckles as Ciel walks towards the house, and Ken makes his way to help everyone dig graves for their people, and burn the walkers they didn’t know.

They have a funeral for all of them. When Ciel finishes eating a small snack, he joins them and stands by Carl, and they hug.

“At least we know..” He said quietly. 

“What?”

“At least we know now.. That she’s really..”

Carl sighs. “Yeah…”


	11. Chapter 11

The group notice Hershel is gone after Beth collapses.

Rick, Glenn and Ken get ready to go to the town to see if Hershel is at the bar.

Maggie didn’t want Glenn to go, Lori wanted Rick to stay. Ciel told Ken to come back in one piece, then said goodbye.

But, while the three of them weren’t paying attention, Ciel climbed in the back of the truck, right against the seats. He wanted to go with them. He told Carl to let the others know when they noticed he was gone too, that he was with Ken in the town nearby.

Ken was by the window, Glenn was in between him and Rick. He listened to Glenn talk about love, and Maggie.

He got curious as to what loving someone like that feels like. He loved Ken, Glenn, Rick, Lori, and Carl. But the kind of love Glenn talked about was different.

He figured he’d ask Ken or Rick about it later. And waited as everyone got out of the vehicle after arriving in town. He peeked out the window, and quietly got out, then searched other buildings for anything he or Carl might like.

He went building to building, and even killed a walker that was stuck. He’d peek out the window every now and then to make sure they were still in the bar.

15 minutes passed, and Ciel had gone back to the truck.. He was curious what took them so long.

Then he saw 2 other men walking around. He makes sure he’s still hidden, but watches them as they walk into the bar that Hershel, Glenn, Ken and Rick are in.

Ciel’s not sure whether or not he should go in and check on his family. But soon enough, made a decision to go in. 

Ken stood behind the counter, staying quiet while Rick talked to their two guests. He’d brought a bag with him, and put a few bottles of alcohol in it. He’s not sure why, but figures it might not be so terrible to be able to have a drink every now and then.

One of the men jumped behind the counter, standing next to Ken. He commented on Ken’s height and his katana before grabbing one of the remaining bottles of liquor and poured himself a drink.

Quickly after he explains his situation, Rick didn’t hesitate to shoot Tony, and Ken shoots the guy beside him once he realizes the guy near him either tried to draw on him, or Rick.

The gunshots made Ciel jump. He ran inside, going through the back, and listened closely to make sure none of them were hurt.

Ciel had brought his own gun and knife that Ken gave Ciel. He had his gun ready in case one of his friends was hurt.

He peeked over and saw Hershel, Glenn, and Rick standing by the fat guy lying dead on the floor. Ken was standing behind the counter, leaning on it, drinking liquor, casually. As if nothing happened.

Rick made sure they’re all alright before starting to head out of the bar. They don’t manage to leave after hearing a truck arrive, then people talking.

Ciel stays in the back, watching, and secretly keeping an eye out for the other strangers who’d just arrived.

* * *

Everyone else at the farm began to eat, and quickly noticed Ciel and Lori were gone. Carl was worried about his mom, but let the others know Ciel was with Ken.

* * *

Rick whispers to Hershel, Ken and Glenn. They’re about to move but hear more gunshots.

Glenn kept the door closed, and the men shouted at them. Rick finally answered. And they talk.

Ciel was prepared to fight, feeling like things won’t go well. Then the strangers start shooting. Glenn runs to the back, and see’s Ciel.

“Ciel?” He whispers. Rick and Ken look at Glenn. Ciel pops his head out, “When did you get here?” Glenn asks.

“When you guys did..” Ciel whispered.

“Stay hidden. I don’t want you getting killed” Ken says. Ciel sighs and nods, but keeps his gun out just in case.

His heart was racing. Obviously, not with fear, but with.. Excitement. He hoped he could do something, protect the people who’d always protect him. Repay them for them making him feel safe.

Hershel went to cover Glenn as he tried to reach their vehicle, Ken and Rick stayed in the bar to distract them.

Ciel stood with Hershel, and watched as Hershel shot one of the men outside who tried to shoot Glenn. They didn’t know if Glenn was hurt, since he wasn’t answering them. Rick showed up and rushed over, Ciel and Hershel shooting to keep the others covered so they didn’t shoot Rick. 

Before they can run to the car, they get shot at a few times. Then a truck arrived, driving off and leaving one of their people behind.

Rick ran to the kid. Ciel stood beside Ken as they debated about what to do with the kid left behind. More walkers showed up. 

Ken, Glenn and Ciel kill the walkers showing up as they tried to cut the kids leg off. 

They get surrounded by walkers, and get low on ammo. They rushed him into the car before they all died. They never did cut off the guy's leg. Ken slid it off quickly before they got back to the vehicle.

Ken had covered the kids eyes with a cloth, and stayed in the back with him. Ken hadn’t told anyone until then that he practiced medicine for many years while in Japan. So he knew what to do to keep the boy from bleeding out.

Rick asked Ciel how he was, since Hershel told him that Ciel shot one of the people. Ciel wondered if that guy was dead… That’d make him a murderer. _ But they deserved it _ .

Ken, Rick and Hershel talk about what to do with him once they fix his leg. Ciel wanted to kill him. He didn’t think someone who tried to kill them deserved to live, but he was too young to make that decision, and left it alone.

It wasn’t until morning when they actually got back to the farm. Everyone was getting ready to look for them, arriving just as they planned on leaving.

Rick hugged Lori and Carl. Maggie ran to Glenn, Ken carried Ciel out of the car.

They ask what happened as Ken brought Ciel to their tent, then joins everyone to talk about what to do with the kid. Shane was mad at Rick for allowing a stranger to stay at the farm. A stranger who tried to kill him.

Ciel slept for a few hours after getting back to the farm. Luckily, no nightmares. When he woke up, his body ached, and he thought about the feeling of adrenaline he felt back in the town.

A normal kid his age, even if Carl was in that situation, would be scared.

But the feeling he felt there... He wanted to feel it again. He didn’t do anything, but he would’ve if something were to happen and he could stop it

Perhaps all he wants is to... Feel useful. Powerful. Whatever the reason — enjoyed it


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> kens ma fav boi

Rick and Shane left to bring Randal somewhere far away from the farm.

Ciel slept the whole time they were gone. Lori kept checking up on him, still heartbroken about what she learned he went through. She wanted to ask him about it. She wanted to know if he was okay, if he needed something or if he wanted to talk about it. She wanted to do a lot of things, but everyone _barely_ managed to convince her, not talking about it was best. 

Ken and Daryl bond as they take it easy, resting and relaxing.

When Rick and Shane came back, they still had Randall with them and continued to argue about what to do with him. Daryl and Ken beat up Randall for information about his group.

Even when they got back, Ciel stayed in bed. His body felt tired. Exhausted. He only bothered getting up to relieve himself. Glenn was worried about him. He and a few others thought maybe he was depressed, possibly about Sofia, or even about what happened to him.

While Lori, Andrea and Maggie focused on Beth who was clearly suicidal, Glenn stayed with Ciel, and they both talked. 

Lori wanted to be with Ciel, but… She also knew it was a good time for him to bond a little more with Glenn. She’d noticed how Glenn looked at him. Despite learning what had happened to him, Glenn’s face lit up when he spoke to him. He seemingly got more happy when Ciel chuckled or smiled because of something he said or did. 

Perhaps it gave them hope that he really will be okay, despite what happened to him. 

So, the two caught up and told each other things they never knew about each other. Things they wanted to know. Brotherly things. It was nice for Ciel to bond with Glenn. He’s never had a brother. Not one he was really related to. Glenn got to clear things up with Ciel. He felt too distant from him, which made things awkward for him since they’re both the only family either of them have.

It made them both happy to catch up and talk, and it showed. Seeing Glenn smile made Ciel.. Feel good.

* * *

The next day, Ciel spends more time with Glenn. But soon he left to give Glenn and Maggie space so they could talk.

Ken left early in the morning to go into town.

Ciel talked with Carl. Shane came by and they all walked towards the barn together. 

Ciel wondered why they kept the guy alive. He tried to kill them. If it was his choice, he would kill him. Anyone who tries to kill the people important to him should die. Rick said he’d do it, but he had a feeling he wouldn’t.

Shane then walked off to talk to Andrea.

Carl tugged on Ciel’s shirt. “Come on” He whispered.

Carl brought Ciel into the barn to look at their prisoner who was “sentenced” to death just a few hours ago.

Carl and Ciel sat above the guy, staring at him. After a few seconds, he noticed them.

“Hey,” He whispers. “T-Those are nice hats”

Ciel looks at Carl. The hat Rick gave him was definitely a nice one.

But Ciel preferred the one Glenn gave to him. It was cool.

“I’m Randall, what’re your names?” He continues to whisper

Carl just looks at him, neither of the boys answers. 

“The sheriff guy. Is he your dad? I like him. Yeah, he’s a good guy. I can tell. Your mom out here too? You’re lucky you still got your family. I lost mine..”

Hah, not that it’s a competition, but Ciel lost his parents a long, long time ago… Well… It feels longer than 3 years.

Ciel was unsure as to why Carl wanted to go in the barn. He had a firm grip on the knife that hung by his belt. He wondered if he should kill Randall himself.

“Your dad was gonna let me go till his friend started fighting with him.” Randall says. Carl tugs on Ciel’s shirt again and they start going down to the ground. Closer to Randall.

“It got pretty bad. I-I was kinda worried. At my camp, we got lots of supplies”

Carl gets onto the same floor Randall is, Ciel right behind him and they towards Randall

“Say, if you help me, I’ll take you and your folks back to my people. We’ll take good care of you. Keep you safe. Just gotta— Just gotta help me get out of here, okay?”

Carl walks around Randall, just looking at him. Ciel begins to feel.. Nervous.

The way Randall talked to them, made him dislike Randall even more. Its as if he thinks he and Carl are stupid because they’re kids.

“Just help me pick these locks or find the key, okay? Come on. Please, please?!” Randall reaches as far as the chains go, so it makes a rattle. 

Ciel’s about to tell Carl he wants to leave, but then Shane opens the door

“What the hell are you doing in here? What did you say to them?” Shane says, pushing Ciel and Carl behind him. “What did you say to them, huh?!” Shane repeats, yelling at Randall.

“I didn’t say nothin’!”

Shane puts a gun to Randalls head, “Let me tell you somethin—“ He begins

Andrea shouts, trying to get Shane's attention. Clearly failing.

“I will shoot you where you sit. Open your mouth” He tries to put the gun in Randall’s mouth, and Andrea continues to shout at Shane. “Open your mouth. You like talking, man? You like talking?!”

Finally Andrea gets Shane to back off of Randall

He roughly grabbed Ciel and Carl’s arm, dragging them out of the barn. Carl started begging Shane not to tell his parents.

“Ow'' Ciel mutters. Shane grabbed onto the arm that's on the same side of the burn scar on his body. The one thats still healing.

Shane tosses Ciel and Carl forward, but since Ciel was more behind Shane, he trips and falls on his knees and arms.

Andrea rushed to Ciel, and kneels down, “Are you okay? God, what's wrong with you Shane? You don’t have to be so harsh on him” She says, helping Ciel stand up.

“That ain’t cool you two. You could’ve gotten hurt in there”

“I can handle myself. So can Ciel!” Carl argues.

Shane scoffs, “Let me tell you somethin—You do not go near him again. Either of you. You hear me?” He gets into Carl’s face, then Ciel’s.

“Damn it” Shane mutters.

“You won’t tell my parents, will you?”

“Carl, man, this—“ Shane starts to whisper, “It ain’t about gettin in trouble, okay? A guy like that, he will say anything to you kids. He’ll try to make you feel sorry for him. He’ll try to make you let your guard down. You let your guard down out here, people die”

Andrea motions her arm to quietly tell Ciel to go. He wanted to stay. Because Shane had a point.

He became a scary man, but ever since he moved in with the Grimes family, Shane was a bit like an uncle.

And he knows he wants to protect everyone there.. He’s just doing it the wrong way. The scary way.

Little did he know just how right Shane was; Letting your guard down, can get people killed.

He begins to walk away, since the only one who seems completely unpredictable in their group is Shane, even if he is making some sort of sense.

Then Carl and Shane walk their separate ways.

Later, Ciel walked up to Carl who played around with bullet casings on the ground with his foot.

Lori approached Rick in the barn where the walkers were being held to talk about the upcoming winter, where they’d stay, then what to do for Ciel’s birthday.

It was probably around mid October, at least. If not, it was close to the end of the month. Who knows when Ciel’s birthday was. They only knew it was coming up very soon.

Neither Rick nor Lori know if they can do anything for Ciel for his birthday. Unlike Ken, who already had prepared something for Ciel. 

He didn’t know what day it was, or what month it was (Although they had an idea, but weren’t too sure) Nobody has kept track for awhile. Not that he knows of anyways.

But Ken remembers Ciel telling him when his birthday is.

* * *

Carl and Ciel collect the bullet casings, and Carol walks up to them. “You know, we’ll see Sofia again in heaven some day. She’s in a better place”

Carl stands up, and so does Ciel. “No she’s not,” Carl snarled and started to walk away, “Heaven is just another lie. And if you believe it, you’re an idiot”

Ciel looked at Carl, then at Carol. Carl walked off. “Um...” Ciel mumbles, frowning then rushes to catch up with Carl.

Carol complained to Rick and Lori about Carl when they left the barn.

“Carl!” Rick calls out. “Ciel, leave us to talk, please.” He says. Ciel nods and walks off, hoping that maybe Ken is back.

“Come over here,” Rick says to Carl. Then continues to lecture him about his attitude.

Ciel went into the house, Rick and Carl approached him a few minutes later.

“Hey Ciel. How’re you holdin’ up? We’ve been quite busy lately, I haven’t had much time to ask how you’ve been...” He brings Ciel into a sitting-half hug.

“I’m waiting for Ken to get back..”

“You really like this guy, huh?”

“He saved me..” Ciel mumbles. Rick sighs, and kisses Ciel's head. “Now that I know that, I like him too..”

Ciel nods. Carl walks in, “Hey, Ciel, come on,” He rushed, nodding his head towards the door. 

“Go on now, but stay close and apologize to Carol if you haven’t already, got it? Carl?” 

Carl nods and takes Ciel’s hand to go outside. He looks behind them, then drags Ciel over to where Daryl set up camp.

Ciel felt all over Daryl’s bike after Carl did. Carl checks in the bag hanging off of the back of the bike and takes out a gun.

Ciel looked around him, then noticed Carl playing with the gun. “What’re you doing?” Ciel asks

“Come on.” Carl says excitedly.

He and Ciel walk into the woods, Carl put the gun in his pants. “Is this what it's like to have a gun on you? So freakin’ cool..” He says. 

“What do you mean?” Ciel asks.

“I saw the gun you had when we were in the camp with Jim, Sofia and the others. You didn’t come to train with Shane and dad, so... I just guessed it was because you know how to shoot a gun”

Ciel shrugs, “I guess so. I haven’t used it much. It’s only for emergencies”

“One day, you and me will be the protectors. Keeping our family safe!” Carl says proudly, a huge smile spread across his freckled face.

Ciel must admit... That made him excited, and feel... Good. As much as he hates this new world, it would be awesome to prove his strength to people. Especially since all he’s felt lately is weakness. He was pathetic. He’s felt like a burden to his family. But Carl, with just those simple words, gave Ciel hope that he can change one day. That Ciel can be as strong as Ken and keep people he cares about safe.

Ciel smiled

“Wow… I haven’t seen you smile at all until now” He hugs Ciel for a moment. Ciel chuckled quietly, “Why do you need to hug me for that?”

“I just missed you.. It felt weird seeing you be so quiet and distant.. Never smiling. I’m just glad.” Carl said, squeezing Ciel, then let's go and they continue walking around in the woods.

They come across a walker stuck in the mud. Carl walks towards it slowly.

“Wait what are you doing?” Ciel asks.

Ciel talking caught the walkers attention. The walker looks in their direction, and Carl backs away. Once he realized the walker can’t even move, he started to approach it, he and Ciel threw rocks at it.

“Did you bring your gun?” Carl asked. 

“Um… No. Why?”

Carl shrugged and jumped across the mud, Ciel followed.

The walker, still stuck in the mud, tries to reach for them. Carl took out the gun and pointed it at the walkers head. Ciel stands somewhat in front of him, “Don’t. It’ll make a loud noi—“ Ciel is interrupted by the walker grabbing onto Ciel.

Carl yelps and trips as he walks backwards, then runs away. The walker made Ciel fall on his side, and it grabs onto Ciels foot, trying to take a bite. Ciel whimpers, but manages to crawl away, and chases after Carl.

By the time they get back, it was time for the group to decide what to do about Randall.

Carl and Ciel stay with Jimmy. Ciel glares at Carl for leaving him to possibly die from the walker. But then lets it go. He couldn’t be mad at Carl for very long. Even if he wanted to. Even if Carl was the reason he nearly died. 

When the adults talked, Dale said they should wait to hear what Ken had to say about it all. 

“He said it’s best to kill the kid.” Daryl says

“How do you know that's what Ken would say?”

“He was with me when I talked to Randall this mornin’. It's obvious what he’d choose to do.”

“He’s right.. I mean, I think unless it was us or Ciel, he wouldn’t care what happens to anyone else”

“Are you sure? How is Ken any different than those other people we’re afraid of?” Dale says

“He’s proved that he cares about Ciel, and Ciel is pretty attached to him. How bad can he be?” Daryl says.

“He told us he’d do whatever it took to keep him safe. What if he would even kill one of us to protect Ciel” Dale complains.

“What’re you trying to say, Dale? This isn’t about Ken. It’s about Randall, he’s the real threat here. Not Ken” Andrea defends. Dale sighs, then tells everyone that if they kill Randall, their hope is gone. 

Andrea then agrees. Rick waited for someone else to protest against killing him, but nobody else said anything. It was decided - They were gonna execute Randall. Dale wasn’t happy with that decision and wandered off. 

Later that night, Ken gets back and gives something to Daryl, before they head out to kill Randall. Only Shane, Rick, Daryl and Ken were there. Shane covered Randalls eyes as he cried. Rick got prepared to kill him.

Ciel snuck over to the barn with Carl, walking in silently.

“Do it, Rick” Ciel encourages. “Yeah dad. Do it.” Carl adds

Shane walks over to them both. “Are you fucking kidding me? What’d I say to you kids?” He grabs their arm and brings them both out of the barn. “For fucks sake..” He oh, so quietly mumbled.

Ken chuckled at how Ciel encouraged the death upon a fellow child. Rick and Daryl glared at him, and he stopped smirking. Rick then tells Daryl and Ken to take Randall away.

They all walk back to their camp. Everyone looks over at them, waiting and wondering why there wasn’t a gunshot.

“We’re keeping him in custody. For now” Rick says

Andrea goes off to find Dale excitedly, Lori tells Ciel and Carl to go in their tents.

Rick told Lori and Glenn that both Carl and Ciel wanted to watch him kill Randall.

Ken went into the tent and greeted Ciel. “Why’d you tell Rick to kill the kid?” He asks. Smirking, sounding as if he was amused.

“He’s dangerous. He almost shot Rick when we were in that bar with Hershel and Glenn”

Ken softly chuckles. “You’re gonna turn into a serial killer someday” Ken jokes

“What?”

Ken then sighs, “That... Was meant to be a joke.. I’m not very good at those. My point is, killing a person to keep yourself or someone you,” He cleared his throat, “Uh.. Care about - safe is never a bad thing to do. I want you to remember that. Someday these people will learn... You need to kill to survive. And it's not just walkers you need to get rid of. Not everyone he sees that yet. Which is why they’re weak. Got it?”

Ciel nods. He opened his mouth to ask what he meant by ‘weak’ but then he jumps when he hears screaming. Ken looks at Ciel, then rushes outside.

Lori told Carl to go into the house and lock the door, Ciel was hesitant to go, but listens once Ken nods, as a way of telling him to do as she said. 

Ken grabbed his sword, T Dog grabbed a shotgun, and Glenn ran to join them. Rick ran towards Dale with a shotgun and saw a walker on top of Dale opening his stomach after failing to take bite. Rick killed the walker.

Everyone ran to meet up with Rick and Ken. Including Carl and Ciel. They panic when they see the walker they ran into a few hours before.

Carl cried in Lori’s arms, and Ciel felt bad, standing next to Ken. The two boys felt guilty. _It was their fault._

Rick tried to shoot Dale and put him out of his misery and end his pain. He couldn’t do it. Ken ends up doing it instead.


	13. Chapter 13

They have a funeral for Dale the next morning.

Ken brought Ciel to town to find some winter clothes for him and maybe for Carl. Ciel had confessed about what happened before Dale died - His run-in with the same walker. 

It made Ken chuckle when Ciel blamed himself, but reassured him it wasn’t….. Or was it?

They didn’t go very far. They’d found a nice, dark red rigged beanie and some clothes to help keep Ciel more warm during the winter. They found a few stuff for Carl, too.

When they got back, everyone was packing their things to go stay in Hershel’s house.

“It’ll be tight… 16 people in one house..” Rick says

“Don’t worry about that. With the swamp hardening, the creek drying up—“

“With 50 head of cattle on the property, we might as well be ringing a damn dinner bell” Maggie adds, cutting Hershel off. 

“She’s right. We should’ve moved you in awhile ago”

Rick then gave instructions and everyone finished up. He also asked Ken to keep an eye on Shane while he and Daryl set Randall free. 

“Why me? I didn’t think any of you trusted me” Ken jokes, a smug grin on his face. 

“That was before. This is now. You’re a part of our group, you’re one of the most important people to Ciel. His intuition was never wrong, even for a boy his age. If he trusts you..” Rick sighs, “We trust you” Rick pats Ken’s shoulder.

“Hey, speaking of. You think we should do anything for him?” Rick asks, keeping his voice low in case Ciel hears them

“Is something wrong with him?” Hershel asked.

“No, his birthday will be coming up soon. I’m not sure what to do for him. Its not like we have many options anymore”

Ken sighs, and smirks. “That's something you’ll need to figure out on your own..” then walks away. Rick sighs, wondering why he doesn’t seem to care. Little did they know… 

Ken took a heavy bin away from Lori. Hershel told him to put it in his room. Ken did so. He came back to get another bin, and heard Lori and Hershel debate about Hershel’s room.

“Hey. Ciel and I will take it if you two can’t decide” Ken jokes.

Joking is something Ken is slightly new at, but recently decided he’ll try and do… Trying to make jokes that aren’t offensive. 

In the beginning, people were... Hesitant on letting Ken and Ciel sleep in the same tent, or even the same mattress. Luckily it didn’t take a lot of anything for them to trust him and believe that he’s not a creep. Especially after hearing that Ciel reminded him of his brother. He definitely made his intentions and goals clear; Keep Ciel safe and alive. 

During their time at the farm, Ken and Andrea have spent their free time together. Helping each other stay warm.

* * *

Later in the day, Ciel and Carl sat in the barn, looking outside using the binoculars, watching out for any people or walkers. Rick approached them.

“Your mom said you’d be here,” He kneels next to Carl, then gives Carl the gun he took from Daryl. “Take it”

“What happened to Dale had nothing to do with either of you..”

“He... died dad..” Carl says. Ciel wanted to say that he almost died too, since Carl just ran away. But then he wonders what he would’ve done if the roles were switched.

“Yeah. Yeah...” Rick says quietly. “Feels like there's a lot of that goin around. That's why I need you both. No more kid stuff. I wish you boys could have the childhood I had, but that's not gonna happen. People are gonna die... I’m gonna die. Mom. There’s no way you can ever be ready for it. I try to be but I can’t. The best we can do now is avoid it as long as we can, keep one step ahead.” Rick sighs, and Ciel looks down, fidgeting with his fingers.

“I wish I had something better to say. Something more profound. My father was good like that..”

Ciel felt like he shouldn’t be a part of their moment. Rick is talking to his son. _Ciel isn’t Rick’s son_. They aren’t _really_ family, in Ciel’s mind. They’re his family, but he’s not theirs. 

He managed to sneak away and walked to the field and sat down, staring off into the sky with infinite stars, and clouds... Full of.. Blue. Even the darkness once it’s nighttime 

It was relaxing. It was nicer when Ken joined him. Neither spoke a word. They just sat together.

* * *

Later that evening, T Dog notified the others that Randall was gone. Some people leave to search for them in the woods.

Shane had lied when he said Randall attacked him. He tried to kill Rick when they all separated to look for Randall.

Ciel secretly followed Rick, Ken and Shane. He felt like something was off about Shane. He asked Carl to not tell anyone he was going to help, and Carl said he wouldn’t. 

He was quiet, trailing right behind them. Ciel had his knife with him. He was ready for anything that could go his way.

Ciel lost track of Ken, Rick and Shane. He got lost in the woods but quickly found his way back to the house, and snuck back inside and told Carl his concerns, then shared them with Hershel and the others. His concerns were overlooked by a few people. 

Shane and Rick begin their fight after Shane hit Ken, catching him off guard and knocking him unconscious.

As it got later, Rick eventually had to kill Shane before Shane killed him. And after waking Ken up, they all head back to the farm. They soon realized the big herd of walkers behind them and run away from a herd walkers that ended up overrunning the camp. Ken ignored the pain in his head from being hit. He had to. 

Some people died that night. Ciel wanted to be with Ken, but Ken wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

Eventually everyone but Ken, Ciel and Andrea were still at the farm, while everyone else had escaped.

Ken had looked around for Andrea and Ciel, who was hiding. He finally grabbed one of the other bikes he’d found and drove off, thinking Ciel was with someone else who got away.

He knew they’d all reunite at the Highway where they lost Sophia, and headed towards there. 

It took until after sunrise to get there. When everyone got back together, they noticed Ciel and Andrea were missing. Ken was visibly upset, and worried. It surprised everyone to see Ken acting that way.

He even got mad at them for not trying to find him with the time they had.

“None of you know where— For fucks sake...” He mumbled.

“Hey, man, relax. He’s gonna fine” Daryl tried to reason with him. “Let me go find him. He’s probably hiding in the woods. I’ll track ‘im down..”

”I can—“

”I agree with Daryl on this,” Rick stated, “You were hit in the head pretty hard earlier. I wouldn’t want you to pass out, out there. If Daryl says he can find him... I trust that he means it.” 

Ken sighed, “Fine. Be quick..” 

Daryl nodded, and drove back to look for Ciel. He didn’t go straight to the Farm since there were too many walkers there, but he travelled around the roads nearby, calling his name. Waiting for Daryl to come back to find a lost child in the woods brought back painful feelings for the group. Especially Carol, but she had already been ignoring the fact her daughter was dead. Not necessarily letting herself fully grieve.

This was different, though. Ciel will be fine. Everyone waited on the highway until Daryl got back, _knowing_ that he’d find Ciel soon.

2 hours later, after searching through the woods, he came back with Ciel who was tired, dirty and hungry. Daryl helps Ciel off his bike, and Ken rushes to him, checking him for bites, scratches or any other injuries.

It surprised the others to see Ken act this way, when he usually never does. Ciel took a deep breath, “I.. Had to keep running.. They were everywhere and I just—“ He fell into the arms of Ken. His body was worn out.

Ken held Ciel tightly. 

“Did you see Andrea?” T-Dog asked.

Ciel groaned, “Mm… No..” He yawned, “She distracted the walkers around us so I could run away…”

Rick sighed and hugged Lori. 

Carl stood beside Ken and gave Ciel a necklace. It had one of the bullet casings from the farm on it. The casings they were playing with just the other day. He didn’t want to risk losing it while waiting for Ciel’s birthday to get closer. It might’ve even been his birthday that day anyways, or the next day, or the next. 

“I had Daryl help me make it..” Carl smiled at him, “And.. Look at this.” He showed Ciel his own necklace, exactly like Ciel’s. Ciel smiled, “Thanks…” 

“Well.. Where do we go now? It’s damn near close to winter, we don’t have shelter, barely any gas, food or weapons.” T-Dog said worryingly. 

“We’ll figure it out. The important thing is, we’re together.”

“Not all of us..” Glenn muttered. Rick sighed, and they all went back into their vehicles. Ciel fell asleep as soon as he sat down.

They decided to drive east. Still unsure of what their next plan is. Other than staying alive. Sadly, they didn’t get too far, since they ran low on gas on their vehicles.

They stopped on the side of the road, discussing what happened with Randall. He wasn’t bitten, he wasn’t scratched; And yet he turned. 

Rick decided to confess what Jenner had told him before they left the CDC. Giving them the answer to their question. An answer they didn’t quite like.

“We’re all infected.”


	14. Chapter 14

Everyone was a little mad, some more than others for a few months after the farm fell. The constant travelling didn’t help.

Especially with Lori. She and Rick had problems. They didn’t get along very well anymore. 

During their first night off the farm, Ken gave Ciel the thing he’d prepared for him.

It was a similar katana like his. It wasn’t exactly the same, and a little bit big for him but Ken told him he’d grow into it.

It was a hard winter. They had some problems finding clothes to stay warm. An even harder time finding food, or a cozy place to spend the night

When winter passed, it was easier to travel. Passing by towns, going house to house and searching for anything they could use. Silently killing any walkers they came across

Rick, Ken and Daryl became closer. Ciel got to bond with Glenn some more, and with Maggie.

After Daryl saved Ciel, they became closer too. Everyone in the group quickly became like a family... Ish.

Lori was about 9 months pregnant. They looked for a place to stay for Lori to have the baby. But some were worried about her, since she was a bit overdue. And no place was safe enough. 

They stopped on the road to look at the map. Rick and Daryl find a Prison while they went hunting for food and water. 

They discussed it with the group and everyone decided to risk killing all the walkers in and around the prison. 

They quickly managed to kill the walkers in the courtyard. Considering that this was a possible safe place to stay while Lori has the baby.

Everyone was happy to have so much space, have time to relax, not needing to keep an eye open while they slept. It was a relief after bouncing around a lot during the winter.

Ken and Ciel were one of the only people in the group to kill most of the walkers. Ken had taught Ciel how to safely use the katana. It was quite a useful weapon. 

The morning after they got to the prison, they cleared out the other walkers wandering around, then walked in the cell block, and chose cells they’d stay in.

Carl tried to be in the same cell as Beth, until Hershel subtly told him not to. Then Carl and Ciel bunked together, Ken stayed in the cell next to them.

Later, they met some former prisoners in the prison cafeteria. Staying in there since everything went to shit. Ciel wasn’t sure if he could trust them.

Hershel lost his leg during their sweep. Ken helped keep Hershel from dying. Glenn, Carol and Lori kept an eye on him while Ken left with the other men to clear out the other cell block for the prisoners.

When they came across the first two walkers, the prisoners attacked them, stabbing them in the stomach instead of the head.

Ken, T Dog, Rick and Daryl all stood there, watching them. Judging them.

Ken softly chuckles, amused at their... idiocy. What else can you expect from criminals?

Carl and Ciel left the cell block to look for the infirmary and look for anything that could help Hershel.

They found a bunch of stuff and went back to Hershel’s cell with a bag full of supplies.

Carol gasped when Carl dropped the bag on the ground.

“Where did you get this?” She asked.

“From the infirmary” Ciel says proudly

“Wasn’t much left but we cleared it out.” Carl adds with a smile on his face.

“You went by yourselves?” Lori asks, Carol wraps up Hershel’s leg.

“Yeah..?” Carl says

“Are you boys crazy?” She snapped.

“It’s no big deal, we killed 3 walkers” Ciel shrugged. 

“Alright... Do you see this? This was with the whole group.” She points out Hershel’s missing leg and unconsciousness

“We needed supplies so we got them!” Carl argued.

“I appreciate that, but—“

“Then get off my back!” Carl yells, interrupting Lori.

“Carl! She’s your mother. You can’t speak to her like that”

“Listen, it’s great you wanna help—“ Lori begins to say, but stops when Carl groans and runs off

Ciel looks down. Glenn puts his hand on Ciel’s shoulder.

“S-sorry..” Ciel mutters.

“It’s okay hun. Just don’t go off on your own like that..It’s dangerous” Lori responds

Ciel walks away and sits in his and Carl's cell, and waits for Ken to return. 

The group killed off the many walkers in the other cell block. They were concerned with the prisoners and whether or not they could trust them. So let each other know they had each other's backs, keeping their guards up, ready to kill them if need be. 

The prisoner that opened the doors and let in all the walkers, attacked and nearly cut Ken’s face. It scratched his cheek, but he dodged in time before it cut him deeper.

He threw a walker on Ken knocking him off balance, and falling to the ground. Then Daryl killed it, helping Ken stand up. Then they stared at the prisoners.

After standing across from each other in silence, Rick slowly nods his head at Ken.

Ken then pushes his katana through the head of one of the prisoners, from his chin, all the way through to the top. One of the other prisoners tried to stop him but reacted too late. He tried to hit Ken, but Ken knocked him down, and he scurried away. 

Rick and Ken chased him as he ran outside, ending up being cornered by walkers. Ken closed the gate door before he ran back in. They both watched as he was supposedly killed and eaten by walkers

Daryl and T Dog watch the other prisoners, who claimed they weren’t gonna act out. Which… They didn’t. 

Rick sighs, nods his head at Ken to make sure he’s okay, then they walk back to Daryl. 

When Ken and the others got back to the cell block, they checked up on Hershel. And after helping him as much as he could, Ken pulled Ciel aside, sitting on the stairs and grabbing his upper arm, putting his hand around it completely with a lot of space between his hand and Ciel’s arm.

“Jesus Christ, Ciel...” 

Rick looks back. “What is it?”

Ken glared at Ciel, “I know we’ve had a hard time finding food, but it still almost looks like you haven’t eaten anything in weeks. You may as well be a walker.”

“It’s not my fault..” He mumbles.

“Why don’t you get something to eat? We have food now.” Rick says. Ken walks with Ciel to grab a can of food.

“We might be staying here awhile. If that's the case, we’re gonna have to change this. You’re young, but these days it's worth a lot gaining some muscle. Especially you. You’re thinner than a damn twig.” Ken snarled as he opened a can of food, then handed it to Ciel. “If we don’t fix this, it’ll affect your height. I doubt you wanna stay that short for the rest of your life..”

Ciel chuckled and nodded, then started eating slowly. 

“Tomorrow you’ll help the rest of us clean up the walkers outside.” Ken sighed then walked away.

Ciel finished half the can of food, then brought the rest for Carl to eat.

The next morning, everyone helped clean out the walkers they killed on their way into the prison. Ciel made sure to help out as much as he could… Which wasn’t as much as he or Ken hoped. 


	15. Chapter 15

Everyone began to settle in the Prison, moving their vehicles inside the fence.

The two prisoners show up in the courtyard, trying to negotiate their way into being in the group, and complaining.

Rick didn’t want to, but discussed it with Daryl, Ken, Glenn, T-Dog, Maggie and Carol.

T-Dog wants them to stay, the others don’t.

They start piling up the dead walkers to burn them, and moving more of their cars. Rick, Glenn, Daryl and Ken were outside the fences to get wood. They saw Hershel come out of the building on crutches. They were glad that he was up and about.

Ciel was with Lori, Carl, Beth and Hershel when they walked out. Ciel and Carl challenged Hershel to a race.

Out of nowhere, walkers appeared from behind them. Hershel and Beth got away, Ciel, Lori and Carl started shooting them.

Ciel had his sword, but didn’t want to get in the line of fire.

Ken, Rick and Daryl rushed to the gates to help.

Maggie led Lori, Carl and Ciel away, Ciel watching behind them, killing any walkers that got too close.

Rick and the others got there too late, and couldn’t find Lori, Carl, Ciel or Maggie.

T Dog ended up getting bit while locking the gates where the walkers were.

Rick, Glenn, Daryl and Ken killed the few walkers that were still nearby. As they figured out what happened, an alarm started buzzing. A loud one. They made the prisoners show them where they go to turn them off.

As they ran, Lori went into labour. Carl brought them into the boiler room, and hid in there from the many walkers that were right behind them, desperate to make them their meal.

Ciel and Carl checked the room to make sure there were no walkers. Carl was clearly worried about Lori, despite being aggressive and mad at her for the past few months.

The loud noise the prison made disturbed Ciel. His ears were sensitive to such loud sounds.

Maggie comforted Lori, as she tried to control her breathing. Then tells her they have to deliver the baby in that room.

Lori started to push, and Ciel stood guard in case any walkers get through the door.

Lori had to stop pushing, since something wasn’t right. Maggie lowered her hand, bringing it back up and saw blood on her fingers.

“What’s that?” Ciel asked. He knew it was nothing good, but he doesn’t understand the anatomy of women. Let alone childbirth. 

Ken was alone, running around to look for Ciel in the block they were seen entering. He killed any walkers he ran into. 

Lori informed Maggie that she needed a C Section, same as the last time she had a baby. Maggie wasn’t at all confident in doing it - Carol or Ken were supposed to do this. They were ready. 

Carl and Ciel comfort Lori as she prepares to die; knowing it was unlikely she’d survive. The boys had to prepare themselves as well.

“You don’t have to do this..” Carl cried.

“You’re both gonna be fine. You and Ciel are gonna beat this world. You’ll win against the walkers, and live a long, happy life despite them… I know it. You two are the smartest and strongest boys I’ve ever met. You’re both so brave and I love you so much..” Lori’s voice slightly cracks as she tries not to cry for their sake.

“I love you too..” Carl said quietly. 

Ciel lightly squeezed Lori’s hand, looking down at her sadly. He didn’t want her to die.

“You boys look after each other, and for your baby brother or sister”

Ciel was caught off guard when Lori called her almost newborn baby his brother or sister as well. He never really thought that they saw Ciel as their family. He never took it personally, or too hard when that particular thought came to mind. 

But hearing how that wasn’t the case, made him happy. But it also made him sad. 

Ken ended up finding them, Maggie sighed in relief and walked up to him. “Do you know how to do a C-Section?”

“I’ve never done one but I know the steps” He looked behind her and saw Ciel and Carl comforting Lori as she cried. 

He and Maggie continue discussing the plan, and what Ken needs to do.

“You gotta do what's right baby,” Lori says to comfort Carl. “You promise me you’ll always do what's right. It’s so easy to do the wrong thing in this world... So if it feels wrong, don’t do it. Alright? If it feels easy don’t do it. Don’t let the word spoil you.” Lori’s voice breaks as she speaks her last words to her two - yes, two - sons.

Carl cries, and Ciel feels sad, but not on the verge of crying for some reason.

“My sweet boys... You’ve made me so happy, you’re the best things I’ve ever done… I love you both so, so much...” She cries, hugging Carl, then Ciel. 

She kept Ciel in place, whispering in his ear, “Please watch after our family for me.. I know I can count on you... Ever since we took you in, both Rick and I knew you were our son. I love you..” She says, kissing Ciel’s cheek.

Ciel gives Lori a sympathetic look and a sad smile.

Ciel moves next to Carl, giving Ken space to cut Lori open. She prepared herself for the pain. 

Ciel held Carl and Maggie’s hand. The three comfort Lori in her last moments.

“Good night, loves..” Lori whispers, then closes her eyes.

“I apologize, Lori. This...” He inhales sharply, then exhales “Will hurt like a bitch.” Ken says bluntly. Almost as if he isn’t sorry. He pushes the knife into Lori, the same spot where she had her last C-section.

The awful screaming brought back painful memories for Ciel. He’s not sure how it feels to be cut that deeply, but he knows how it feels to be burned which might be somewhat similar. If not worse.

He walked away, trying to block out the sounds of Lori screaming from the pain. Luckily she passed out, and with Maggie’s help, Ken took the baby out.

When the baby was out, it wasn’t crying. Ken gently pushed down on the baby's chest, trying to get the heart started, which worked after the second try. Carl took off his jacket to cover her. 

Before they left, Carl stated he must kill Lori before she turned. Ciel was about to walk away with Maggie and Ken, but Carl wanted Ciel to be with him.

They walk back, standing beside Lori. Carl cried one last time for his mother before he pushed the tears away. He kneels next to her, kisses her head and stands back up, holding Ciel’s hand. They look at each other, and Ciel nods, squeezing Carl’s hand, standing closely together. Looking at Lori one last time. 

Then he aimed the gun at her head, and shoots.

They walked past Ken, Maggie and the baby who waited by the doorway. Maggie was crying

They both kept their head low. Carl wouldn’t let the tears fall. Ciel too, as he had to be strong for Rick. For Carl. And now, for the baby. His baby sister.

They leave the block and meet everyone back outside. The baby’s cries made everyone look their way.

Maggie sobs, and her body shook as she walked beside Ken who held the baby in his blood-covered hands. Carl and Ciel walk side by side without any emotion on their face.

Rick wondered Lori was, then realized she’s dead when neither of his sons answered and started crying in a way Ciel never heard before. He fell on the ground, sobbing. 

Glenn held Maggie as she cried, Ken passed the baby to Hershel so he could approach Ciel, and ask if he was okay. Ciel shrugged, and stared at Carl who walked to the fence. 

Ken then tried to get Rick’s attention, but failed.

Hershel reminded everyone the baby needed formula, so Maggie and Daryl left to find her some, along with diapers and anything else they needed for the baby.

Rick left to go in the cell block Maggie, Ken, Carl and Ciel went back to their own cell block. 

After getting some rest, Glenn and Ken dug graves for their dead. Apparently Lori was eaten by a walker, so they couldn’t bury her.

Two prisoners take over for Ken and Glenn, allowing them to take a break, and they walk back to the cell blocks.

“He might.. Need us to be there for him”

“What?” Ken glanced at Ken.

“Ciel. I mean, Lori was like his mother. Rick seems to be a little... Unstable right now, and Carl? Well, Lori just died. They’re just kids, and they’ll need someone to go to for… Emotional support. They don’t really have that, and I’m not sure if it’ll be me or you, or someone else but I’m just... Letting you know.. Just in case. Be ready for that. If you… Can be.” Glenn sighs

Ken sighed, “I doubt they’d come to me for that.”

“They might. You’re—You were there with them. You helped bring that baby into this world.”

“Maggie was there too. And I didn’t bring jack shit into this world. That baby was already here. It was just hidden inside the womb..”

Glenn scoffed, “Alright, man… Jeez.” He chuckled awkwardly. Ken walked into the cell block, as Glenn waited outside, watching out for the return of Maggie and Daryl. 

Ciel went to sleep once he cleaned himself up. 

After his small talk with Glenn, Ken went to check on Ciel, but saw him sleeping… without a blanket. He took his own blanket from his bed and put it on Ciel to keep him warm. Then checked up on Carl. He was sitting in Rick’s cell, alone. Doing nothing.

“How you holdin’ up kid?” He asked, leaning against the wall.

Carl shrugs.

“It was one hell of a thing you did, shooting your mom. Takes guts to do that. I’m impressed.”

Carl sighs. “I had to.. Couldn’t let her turn”

“Yeah..” Ken breathes out.

Carl looks at Ken, “How did you know what to do? With the baby?”

“I was a _surgical fellow_ when this all started.”

“Huh?”

Ken chuckled, “A doctor. Being a surgical fellow meant I was officially a surgeon. I just had to figure out what type of surgeon I wanted to be.”

“A surgeon..” Carl mumbled, “What kind did you want to be?”

Ken took a deep breath, “Well.. I was doing pretty well in Neuro - brains. But it wasn’t what I wanted. If anything, I probably would’ve chosen Cardio, where I’d focus more on fixing the heart. Or general, where I’d fix _“broken”_ organs in the stomach area or stuff like that.”

“Oh, wow… That’s pretty cool. Is it scary? Or.. Gross?”

Ken chuckled, “Nah. It was pretty cool. You’ve probably seen a few brains.” 

Carl scrunched his nose up, “It’s gross… If you already saw people’s insides, I guess it didn’t bother you when the walkers showed up?”

“Mm.. Yeah. The only difference was; they moved around. And they smelled really bad.”

Carl chuckled. 

“Alright, kid. Get some sleep. You probably need it”

Carl nods and lays down, covering himself with his blanket.

Ken walked into Ciel’s cell when he heard him gasp and nearly scream. 

“You alright?” Ken asked.. Ciel nods, and Ken turns to walk away.

“W-wait.. Ken.”

“Yeah?” Ken walked in and sat on the chair. 

“Can.. You sleep with me? I just… Even with the walls and the fences, I still feel scared and th-the nightm—“

“Scoot over.” Ken leaned forward, Ciel moved over for Ken to lay with him. 

Ken laid on the outer side of the bed, Ciel was on the inside, cuddled by Ken who helped keep him warm. 

Having a small child be in his arms was for some reason, quite soothing and comforting. Hearing Ciel’s quiet breathing, his heart beating against his body. The warmth they both created.

It wasn’t very weird for him and Ciel to sleep together like that. It was in the beginning, but it was something Ciel needed to feel safe. Ken was Ciel’s shield. Ciel was Ken’s person. Soul mates, if you will. But not the romantic type. Just the person they couldn’t live without. The person who they could share anything with, do anything with, and life would just feel okay. 

Having that type of bond was unexpected for Ken. He never would’ve thought he’d find someone like that. Let alone with a child. But it gave him insight on how other people felt about their family and friends. It didn’t give him the ability to care or be more empathetic, but he understood. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uwu


	16. Chapter 16

A few hours later, Daryl and Maggie come back with baby stuff.

Carl was awake and held the baby. Ken taught Ciel the proper way to clean their weapons

Daryl took the baby while the others prepared the food to feed her, then gave Daryl the bottle, and he fed her.

He asks for the baby’s name, Carl suggested naming her after some of the women they’d lost since Atlanta. Daryl called her Ass kicker

“You like that? Huh? Little ass kicker” Daryl says to the baby. He looks at everyone, “Right? That's a good name, right?” He jokes

Everyone laughs

Ciel thought he could help give the baby a name, but then decided not to. It wasn’t something he should or can do.

Ciel and Ken went back to cleaning their weapons.

Ciel was thinking of Rick. He’d never seen Rick so... Odd. It wasn’t like him to act that way, but he figured Rick must be feeling guilty. He never seemed to forgive Lori. Not that he should’ve. Even he felt a little mad at her.

Later on, Rick came back while everyone was eating. He checked up on everyone, then leaves again

The next day, Ciel left with Maggie and Glenn on a run to get more baby supplies.

Ciel stared out the window as they drove. He wondered what would happen in the future. How long will he be alive? Who else will die? A million questions ran across his mind. And none of them were good.

They arrived at the place Glenn was talking about. They got out of the vehicle, and checked around for walkers

“Clear outside.” Maggie says

“Alright, let's take a look...” Glenn mumbles

“Hey,” Maggie says, pecking Glenn on the lips. Then Glenn grabs her neck and kisses her more deeply, Ciel groans.

“Seriously? Don’t do that stuff around me...” He complained

They chuckle. “Before you know it, you’ll find yourself a girlfriend. Be doin’ exactly what we’re doin’” Maggie jokes

“Yeah right...” 

They laugh at Ciel’s cute innocence, then Glenn used a tool to break the chain that kept the doors closed. Birds fly out, startling the couple. Glenn and Ciel enter the store and check the place out, searching for supplies. 

“Hey, Glenn grab that duck” Maggie says, pointing at a duck on the floor in the building.

“What?” Glenn asks.

“Get that duck.” Maggie repeats, grinning.

Glenn laughs, “Are you serious?”

“Well, yeah. A kid growing up in a prison could use some toys”

Glenn grabs the duck and puts it in Ciel’s bag. They turn around to find more stuff

After wandering around for a few minutes, Glenn left the store while Ciel double checked everything, making sure they had what they needed. 

“Fuck yeah! We just hit the powdered formula jackpot” Glenn says enthusiastically.

Maggie chuckled, “Thank god.”

“We also got beans, batteries, cocktail wieners, many mustards. It’s a straight shot back to the prison from here. Probably make it in time for dinner.”

“Hm.. I like the quiet though...” Maggie says as she brings one of the baskets to the car and Ciel steps out of the store. “Back there, back home. You can always hear them outside the fence no matter where you are. Kinda makes it hard to sleep”

“And where is it ya’ll good people are callin’ home?” A familiar voice says, followed by the sound of a gun cocking.

Maggie drops the basket, she and Glenn both point their guns at Merle. Glenn and Maggie stand beside each other, Ciel stands to Maggie's left, his hand gripping the handle of his katana.

The man who’d just come across him was no stranger. Although Glenn, Ciel and the others thought he was dead.

Ciel was ready to take out his sword.

“Merle?” Glenn says. Merle laughs and puts down his gun.

“Wow!”

“Hey, back the hell up!” Maggie threatens as Merle slowly walks closer, but with his hands up. 

“Okay, okay honey. Jesus...”

“You‘re alive.. ” Ciel mumbles

“Yep...” He glared at Ciel, then looked at Glenn. “Tell me… You know if my brother alive?”

“Yeah..” Glenn responds.

“You know what? You take me to him and I’ll call it even on everything that happened in Atlanta. No hard feelings, huh? Not even towards you, pipsqueak”

Ciel glares at Merle, keeping his hand tightly on his katana. Glenn looked at Merle’s hand… Or… Lack thereof.

Merle laughs, “You like that?” He says as he shakes his arm, chuckling as he shows off the knife attached to it. “Well, I found myself a medical supply warehouse. Fixed it up myself. Pretty cool, huh?”

“We’ll tell Daryl you’re here and he’ll come out to meet you”

“Hold on, just hold up!” Merle says, walking closer to them

“Whoa, whoa!” Glenn kept his hand out to make Merle stay put, “Stay back!”

“You move any closer, I’ll cut off your other hand.” Ciel threatens. Merle chuckles

“Hold up here, hold up. Hey, the fact we found each other is a miracle. Come on now. You can trust me. I’m not even trying to hurt the kid after what he did”

“He didn’t do anything wrong, and if you want to see Daryl, trust us” Glenn says aggressively. “You stay here. We’ll tell him—“

Merle chuckled, then quickly grabbed the extra gun he had behind his back. He shoots but hits the vehicle window, Maggie and Glenn move out of the way to avoid getting shot.

Ciel fell on the ground, and as Maggie passed, Merle took ahold Ciels arm and dragged him closer and away from Glenn and Maggie. He wrapped his giant arms around Ciel, holding the gun to his head

Maggie and Glenn ran back to the other side and see Ciel stuck in his grasp.

“Let go of him, let go of him!” Glenn yells. 

“Put that gun in the car right now. Put it in the car. Both of you! Or I finally get my sweet, sweet revenge on this brat”

Glenn and Maggie put their guns in the car through the broken window. “There you go.. Now we’re gonna go for a little drive”

“We’re not going back to our camp.” Maggie states.

“No, we’re goin somewhere else. Get in the car! Glenn you’re driving!”

“O-okay, just… Don’t… Don’t hurt him.” Glenn mumbled nervously. He and Maggie get in the car.

“Move it!” Merle says, pushing Ciel into the car

Glenn starts the engine, and drives off, and Merle covers Ciel’s face, same with Maggie’s, but keeps the gun to Ciel’s head.

Merle brought them into a community, their heads covered as soon as they entered, and brought into a room. Maggie was brought somewhere else. Glenn tried to get to her, but Ciel’s life kept getting threatened by Merle, so he obeyed and let them guide him and Ciel into a room.

Merle was dragging his blade-hand on the table in front of them.

“You don’t even know why you guys are here, do you?” Merle asks. “I didn’t mean you no harm. I lowered my gun, but you raised yours, and you—“ Merle looks at Ciel “Threatened to cut off my other hand. You were assholes out there, just like you were on that rooftop back in Atlanta. What yall did, leavin’ me up there. People wouldn’t do that to an animal”

“We went back for you..” Glenn snarled.

“Ain’t you thoughtful?” Merle mocks

“We did. All of us. Rick, Daryl, T-Dog”

“Mmm. T Dog... That big ol’ spear-chucker, the one I beat up. Tell me where he’s at. I’m sure _T-dog_ would like to bury the hatchet, let bygones be bygones”

“He didn’t make it..”

Merle gets in Glenns face, “Well, I hope he went slow” He whispers.

“How ‘bout the rest? Hmm? How ‘bout my baby brother? You can’t tell me he’s alive and then hold off on where he is”

Glenn looks away from him and stares at Ciel worriedly.

“Well maybe... The farmers daughter or Ciel here will help me out” He chuckles. “Tell me somethin’ Glenn... When your girls scared and she’s staying close to you, and her trembling skin—“ Merle holds his knife to Glenn’s face. “—Is close to you, her soft lips are touching you. Here, all over here—“ He trails the knife down from Glenn's face and the side of his neck. “And over here...” He chuckles creepily. Glenn and Ciel cringe.

“Feels good, don’t it? I remember you...” He nods, “Yeah. You’re the sneaky one, the one with nerve. You don’t scare easy, do you? I like that. But I know your weakness.”

Merle walks to Ciel and places his knife on his chin. “I saw how this... _Thing_. Was back on that roof. Pathetic. Shouldn’t be too hard to crack him and get the information I need, but that’d require somethin’ quite painful for him, and I would like to avoid that. He is a child after all, and I’m no monster.”

Merle put the knife against his mouth and pulled, “So, I wanna know where my brother is..”

Glenn’s breathing increases, “Don’t hurt him..”

Merle pulls back on Ciel’s mouth, hurting his teeth, then let's go, walking around Ciel’s body with the knife gently scraping along his face, down to his neck. “I wanna know where the sheriff is..”

He walked up to Glenn and got in his face, “You best tell me where they at, or someone is gonna—“ Glenn head butts Merle.

“Ah! God!” Merle groans. He hits the table. Glenn glares at Merle, then starts beating him.

“I wanna know—“ He grunts from punching Glenn, “Where they’re hiding. Tell me where your camp is, and I wanna know now!!”

“Stop it!”

“Shut it, kid!” Merle faces Ciel

“I wanna know where they are!!” He screams, then hits Glenn more. “Where the hell is my brother?! Tell me!”

Ciel looked down, his lip trembled and he felt helpless. Unable to help his brother. He just watches him get punched.

He can’t tell them where everyone else is. The baby is there. Ciel’s got a feeling if he told Merle they were at the prison, they’d try and kill them all. Including his new sister.

The beating seemed to have gone on forever. But finally Merle stops, then looks at Ciel, then back at Glenn. “Gotta hand it to you.. You’s a lot tougher than I remember. No surprise you lasted this long. I thought the kid would give away the location by now... Guess I was wrong.” He chuckled, “I figured the way Officer friendly abandoned people, he would’ve left ya’ll behind by now”

“You asked for it..” Ciel snaps. Merle looks annoyed, and gives him a dirty look.

“Shut up!” He snaps, then slaps him, Glenn’s bloody lip quivered angrily, watching as Glenn started hitting Ciel, then grabbed his chin, blood dripped from Ciel’s nose and a bit from the edge of his lips, “Where are ya’ll at, hmm?”

Glenn cleared his throat, “I-It’s just a matter of time before they come looking,” Glenn says matter-of-factly.

“I’ll bake a cake with pink frosting. Would they like that?” He shakes his head “Ain’t nobody comin’”

“Rick is. And when he gets here—“ Glenn says, but is interrupted. 

“He’s gonna do nothin’. Not if he wants you, the kid and Bo Peep back. Think I’m in this by myself?”

“You can’t take us all. There’s too many of us!” Glenn lied.

“There ain’t a pair of nuts between the whole pussy lot of you”

“We’ve been on the road for months. Not hiding in some dungeon like a coward!” Ciel snapped. Merle looks shocked at how he’s talking to him. He knows this isn’t the same, quiet and terrified kid he knew back in Atlanta like he thought.

“Exactly. Rick, Shane, Dale, Jim, Andrea.” Glenn says, “They’re comin’”

Merle chuckles, “Really? Is that right?”

He sighed, “Next time. If you don’t tell me what I wanna know, the kid’ll end up even worse than you.” He opens the door, then looks back. “Just ‘cause he’s a kid, don’t mean I won’t beat the crap outta him too.. He deserves it anyways.”

Then he leaves.

“You okay?” Ciel asks

Glenn fake-chuckles, “I’m great...”

He starts to try and get out of the tape on his arms.

Not much time goes by until Merle gets back. But he wasn’t alone. He brought a walker. “Alrighty, I want you to imagine how I felt fightin’ my way off that roof—“ He puts the walker in front of Ciel, Ciel moves his head sideways to avoid getting scratched, Glenn shuffled around in his chair. 

“—One hand, losing blood. Walkers chomping down at me every step of the way. This is your last chance. Where’s your group?”

“Don’t,” Ciel mumbles “Don’t tell him, Glenn..”

“Alright. Suit yourself...” Merle says, then backs out of the room with the walker “You’re gonna be a good snack for this fella. You know what they say, he’s gonna be hungry again in an hour...” He then lets go of the walker, pushing it towards Ciel, and closes the door.

Ciel pushed the walker away with his feet, knocking it on its feet. Glenn managed to get it’s attention away from Ciel.

“Glenn, don’t!” Ciel yells, trying to get out of the tape.

Glenn raises his feet to kick the walker away. He falls back, but manages to get out of the tape and the chair, rushing to stand up. He runs at the walker, pushing it into small furniture..

The walker went at him, but luckily there were bedsprings stopping it from getting to Glenn. 

He fell back after pushing the table on it. 

Ciel was hitting his chair on the wall, hoping to break through just as Glenn did, although he felt too weak.

Eventually he broke it, took a piece of the broken chair and stabbed the walker before it got to Glenn who was on his butt, the walker nearly got to him. 

Ciel fell to his knees, panting. If he’d been one second later, his brother would’ve been eaten. He helps Glenn sit back up, then gets him out of the chair. 

As soon as they got on their feet, Glenn hugged Ciel tightly, crying. Ciel couldn’t see his face, but he heard his brothers quiet sobs and his hands were shaking. 


	17. Chapter 17

Glenn and Ciel take the legs of the chairs and get ready to use them against whoever comes back. 

They’re both ready to kill, or hurt anyone that walks through. 

“When someone comes in, you aim for their feet. Confuse them, then I’ll get their head. Okay?” 

Ciel nod and they walk to the door. 

The door opens, Merle and another guy walk through. “Uh-uh” Merle warned

Glenn and Ciel lower their sticks a bit, but keeping their grip tight. Another guy brought Maggie to them, shirtless 

Ciel feels a dangerous spike of rage course through him. 

He doesn’t understand relationships, or love, any of that. But one thing he does understand, is the kind of torture, or embarrassment people make other people go through. He somehow instantly knew something might’ve happen to Maggie, since her shirt is off. 

He knows what’re under the shirts of girls, especially adults. He knows its not respectful to look, or touch them unless.. She for some reasons wants you to. It thenoccurred to him that maybe Glenn has seen her private parts, which was really weird and gross in his mind, but pushed that thought away to focus on what was currently happening

He and Glenn rush at them to hit them with the sticks, but the other guy points his gun at Maggie, “Drop it!” He says

They hesitate, but do as they said. “We’re through with games. Now one of you is gonna give up your camp.” The man who’s standing behind Maggie says. 

The gun he has, clicks and aims it at Maggie’s head, then he walks past her and points it at Ciel’s. “Tell me. Or he—“

“The prison.” Maggie spits out, still covering her chest 

“The one near Nunez?” Merle asks. 

“That place is overrun” The Governor says, holding the gun to Ciels head says in disbelief 

“We took it” Glenn says. 

“How many of you are there?” 

“13. We have 13 now” 

“13 people cleared that whole prison of biters? Huh?” The Governor looks at Glenn, then Maggie, and back at Glenn. 

He lowers his gun, walks to the door. He stands by Maggie, touches her hair, “Hey, hey... Shh, shh, shh. It’s alright...” He then forcefully hugs Maggie and kisses her head. “It’s alright. It’s alright..” He whispers

He then looks at Glenn and Ciel who cringe, and fight the urge to attack them. He smirked then  pushes Maggie to Glenn. She hugs him tightly, and Maggie catches her breath, quietly crying. 

Merle grabs Ciel’s arm, and takes him away. Glenn tried to move to get Ciel, but couldn’t since Maggie clinged onto him until he gave her his shirt. 

As he was being forced to walk down a hallway, the man squeezed his chin and got closeup in Ciel’s face

“You and your little friends are gonna die tonight. You’re the pest who made Merle take his hand off. We’re gonna make you watch them die. Maybe we’ll even keep you. You’re a kid after all. The Governor may even give you a chance to have a life here, but thats unlikely”

He punches Ciel, knocking him unconscious before he can respond.

* * *

Ken, Rick, Daryl, one of the prisoners and a possible new ally were already outside the town. 

Ken was angered. Enraged that someone had taken Ciel. He was ready to kill anyone who got in his way. Hell, he almost killed the girl who arrived at the fences earlier that day. 

Maggie and Glenn killed a man when they opened the doors, but got outnumbered and were forced to stand down. They cover their heads with a pillow case, and were gonna bring them somewhere to execute them

“On your feet, move. Let’s go, come on.” A man says, shoving the couple forward. 

“Hey!” Glenn tried fighting back, “Where’s my brother?! Where is he?!”

“Shut up”

They were about to be taken somewhere else, but smoke suddenly appeared and was in their faces, making it hard to see. Rick gets Maggie and Glenn.

They run outside, Ken helps Glenn run. The girl they were with disappeared when they run inside another building to let Glenn rest. 

“Ain’t no way out back here” Daryl shouts

“Rick, how did you find us?”

“How bad are you hurt?” Rick asks Glenn. 

“I’ll be alright” He responds. 

“Where’s Ciel?” 

“I don’t know. They took him away awhile ago”

“Fuck!” Ken shouts. 

“Hey, man. We’ll get him” Daryl says

It takes a lot for Ken to not destroy everything. If he found Ciel, dead. He’d go on a killing spree, and kill everyone at Woodbury.

“Where’d that woman go?” Maggie asks

“She was right behind us”

“Maybe she got spotted.”

“Want me to go look for her?” Ken says.

“No. We gotta get them outta here. She’s on her own” Rick says after checking the windows

“This was Merle’s doing. He did this” Glenn says

“You saw him?” Rick asked

“Yeah. He threw a walker at me and Ciel. He was gonna execute us” Glenn adds

“S-So my brother’s this governor?” 

“No. It’s somebody else. Your brother’s his lieutenant or something”

“Does he know I’m still with you?”

“He does now. Rick, I’m sorry. We told him where the prison was. We couldn’t hold out. He was gonna kill Ciel” Glenn says, Maggie covers Glenn with a shirt

“Don’t. No need to apologize” He taps Glenn’s foot, then rushes to the windows

“He probably already did” Ken growls

Rick sighs.

“They’re gonna be looking for us” Maggie says

“We have to get back. Can you walk?” Rick asks  “We got a car a few miles out”

“I’m good”

“Alright”

“Hey, if Merle’s around, I need to see him”

“No. We’re in hostile territory.” Ken says. 

“He’s my brother. I ain’t—“ 

“Look what he did! Look, we gotta get out of here now. Or we’re all dead” Ken says, trying to reason with Daryl

“Maybe I can talk to him. Maybe I can work something out”

“No, no, no. You’re not thinking straight. Look, no matter what they say, they’re hurt. Glenn can barely walk. How are we gonna make it out if we get overrun by walkers and this governor catches up to us? I need you. Are you with me?” Rick says, looking closely at Daryl

“Yeah.” He responds

“What about Ciel?” Maggie asks

“We’ll find him, but right now we gotta move. We can’t stay hold up in here”

They all get ready to run, to escape Woodbury

“On three. Stay tight” Rick says, keeping his hand on the doorknob. “One, two... three” 

Rick opens the door, they throw 2 smoke bombs in front of them, then begin to run. They get shot at, Ken and Rick shoot back. Rick yells at everyone to take cover. 

They huddle in a corner, out of sight from the others. Ken and Daryl keep an eye out. 

“How many?” Rick asks

“I didn’t see” Oscar says

“Don’t matter. There’s gonna be more of ‘em. We need to move” Daryl says

“Any grenades left?”

“Yeah. Some.”

“Get ‘em ready. We gotta gun into the wall” Rick says

“You guys go ahead, I’ll go lay down some cover fire.”Daryl says. 

Maggie glanced over at him, “But—Daryl, we need to stay together!”

“Too hairy. I’ll be right behind ya” He reassured and  stands up, “Ready?” He says then throws another grenade. 

They start running, Rick, Daryl and Ken cover the others

“This way!” Oscar yells, climbing on a bus. Then helps Glenn. 

Once Glenn is up on the roof of the bus, Oscar gets shot. Rick kills the man who shot him.

Maggie yells, “Rick! Rick!” 

“Maggie!” Glenn yells, leaning down from the bus, waiting to help her up

Maggie kneels next to Oscar and calls for Rick again.  She shoots him in the head, then Ken helps her get on the bus.  Ken climbs up, then grabs Ricks hand to help him. 

Rick called for Daryl, but Daryl told them to go. 

They ran back to the front gates to wait for Daryl. They heard rustling behind them, and the woman with dreads came back. 

“Where the hell were you? Put your hands up, now!” Ken says aggressively, pointing a gun at her. “Turn around.” 

She does as he says, Rick also kept his gun in her face, glaring at her. 

Ken takes her sword. Rick walks up to her.  “Get what you came for?”

“Where are the rest of your people?” She asked

“They got Oscar..” Glenn says, holding a gun up to her too.

“Daryl missing. Ciel is still in there somewhere. Did you see him? Daryl?” Maggie asks

She shakes her head. 

“If anything happens to them—“ 

“I brought you here to save them” She interrupts Rick

“Thanks for the help” He says somewhat mockingly.

“You’ll need help to get them back to the prison or to go back in there for Daryl and Ciel. Either way you need me”

* * *

Ciel was in a dark room. Looked like an office

He could hear distant gunshots, and stood up, but as soon as he did, he felt a lot of pain in his face, and his head throbbed. 

He hoped everyone was okay, because he knew. The gunshots meant Rick and Ken and the others were there.

It’s been a little less than a year since he met everyone, and yet they feel like family. 

Since Glenn and Maggie are a couple, Ciel quickly saw Maggie as a sister. She definitely acts like his sister sometimes. 

But its not just Maggie he’s gotten close with. He and Beth are close, Hershel and Ciel talked a lot during the winter. He’s a wise man, who helped Ciel heal more from the trauma he went through.

His advice he gave to Ciel stuck with him. Daryl became like another brother to him. He started to teach Ciel how to track, and hunt. He came to love the people around him. 

Despite feeling like a family, in other ways he still felt disconnected from everyone. He didn’t see himself as Rick, or Lori’s son, even if he saw Carl as a brother. Sometimes he didn’t feel like Glenn’s brother either.

In ways, he was worried to love people, to let them in. He was afraid that.. Someday they’d all just die. 

Even Ken, despite him seeming like he was superman, could die.

He hoped they’d not risk their lives for him. He knows they will anyways, but Ciel knows if they come back for him, they could die.

He’d rather it be him, if anyone were to die.

* * *

The governor went to see Ciel. It was surprising to see how heartless some people could be nowadays. 

Ciel’s a small, young kid, yet this man especially, was so violent towards him.

He would punch him, not using full strength but still enough to hurt real bad. 

The man was gonna take it a little further, which, in fact, did scare Ciel. The Governors hand was on his pants, but it was on his waist

“Get off me!” Ciel tried scrambling away. 

The Governor pushed him down on the ground, keeping him pinned on the floor with his arm. Ciel saw a screw driver, it was under the coffee table. 

The Governor turned him around, onto his back, still keeping his giant arm on his chest, but his other hand was trailing up his leg

He’s creepily humming as he touches Ciel.

“You’re such a creep” Ciel spits, his eyes stuck from the fear, staring at his dark face. He looked... Sick. Not like, illness. More like sick in the head. 

The Governor quickly moved his hand to choke Ciel, but he also unknowingly moved his body up, and put Ciel closer in reach of the screw driver. 

“You don’t act like a kid but think you’ll be treated like one?! I’m not stupid. Your friend in the dreads killed my daughter, and ran away before I got to avenge her...” His grip tightens around Ciels throat, who’s gasping, trying to breathe, but embarrassing squeaks is all he does. “Your friends’re gone. You’ll have to pay the price of the men we lost, the lives they took.”

The Governor punches Ciel, then moves his hand to Ciel’s thigh, squeezing 

“Stop!” Ciel croaks out. He tries to breathe, choking and gasping as he tries to reach for the screw driver. 

Fortunately, the Governor’s looking down as he violates Ciel. He leaned closer in, licking Ciel’s cheek, getting closer to Ciel’s mouth. Almost as if he tried to kiss him.

Finally Ciel reaches the screw driver, and weakily, but he’s strong enough to stab the Governors eye. He screams, and gets off of Ciel. He is about to kill him until one of The Governor’s men show up and tie his hands together

Ciel wondered if they were aware what their leader just tried to do. 

It was probably 15-20 minutes later when Ciel was brought to watch Daryl and Merle beat each other up. 

The Governor talks, and talks, as if he didn’t just violate a kid.

Ciel sees Merle. Who actually gives him a sympathetic look when he sees the bruises and the bit of blood on his face. 

He was farther in the back, so nobody else could see a bruised, and beat up child. But he was close enough for Daryl to see him too. 

The man who kept Ciel there, leaned down to his ear, “You’re going to watch your buddy Daryl die, then we’ll have Merle there, kill you”

They had to fight, but they stopped and worked together to fight against the other people. 

Ciel bit down on the mans hand, and he shouts in pain, and everyone looks their way. They witness a grown man slap a small child.

Nobody knew what to say about that. The people only encouraged Daryl and Merle to fight because they thought Daryl was a bad person, and they were adults. 

But to think they’d hurt a kid? 

It seemed to have been a perfect distraction for Maggie, Ken and Rick to start firing, and throwing smoke bombs. 

Daryl and Merle fought the people, Rick shot the guy who attempted to kill Ciel.

Ciel’s head hurt too much, he felt too weak to stand. So he fell down, but luckily Daryl caught him, and ran back to Rick, Ken and Maggie, with Merle beside him. 

Ken managed to find the person who took Ciels sword, killed him and got it back

Soon after, Daryl, Ciel, Ken, Rick and Maggie were reunited. But Merle was with them. Which would be a problem.

The sun was back up when they got back to the car. Daryl brought Ciel into the car, since he was asleep. 


	18. Chapter 18

Everyone stayed on the road to discuss what to do with Michonne and Merle

“It won’t work..” 

“It’s gotta.” Daryl argues.

“I don’t know, man. It’ll stir things up.”

“The Governor is probably on the way to the prison right now. Merle knows how he thinks and we could use the extra muscle”

“I’d rather not have him at the prison” Maggie says

“Do you really want him sleeping in the same cell block as Carol or Beth?” Glenn questionef.

“My brother’s a lotta things. But he ain’t a rapist” Daryl stated. 

“Well, his buddy is.”

“They ain’t buddies no more. Not after last night”

“There’s no way Merle’s gonna live there without puttin’ everyone at each others throats”

“So you’re gonna cut Merle loose and bring the last samurai home with us?”

“She’s not coming back.” Rick responds

“She’s in no state to be by herself.” Ken says

“Well, she did bring you guys back to us. One of us, or all of us might’ve died by the time you figured out we were taken” Glenn sighed.

“Yeah, then she ditched us to go who knows where.” 

“I should at least patch her up. She’s still in bad shape.” Ken says

“She’s too unpredictable”

“Thats right. We don’t know who she is,” Daryl agrees “But Merle, Merle’s blood”

“No, Merle is your blood. My blood, my family is standing right here an waiting for us back at the prison”

“And you’re part of that family,” Rick says to Daryl. “But he’s not.”

“Man, ya’ll don’t know... Fine. We’ll fend for ourselves” Daryl starts to back away from them.

“Thats not what I was saying”

“No him, no me”

“Daryl, you don’t have to do that.” Rick chases after Daryl

“It was always Merle and I before this”

“Don’t!” Maggie says.

“You serious?” Glenn adds, not wanting Daryl to leave “You’re just gonna leave like that?”

“Hey, guys!” Michonne shouts. They look at her, and see the door opening. Ciel gets out, and covers his mouth

“I got it.” Ken says, rushing to Ciel as they continue to talk about Merle

“What’s wrong?” Ken asks.

Ciel walks towards the ditch, and pukes. Michonne walks up behind them, and does what she thinks Ken should be doing.

She was rubbing his back, comforting the child.

She even gives him a dirty look. He glares at her, after being confused for a moment about why she’s looking at him like that.

“You okay?” She asks softly, once Ciel is done.

Ciel groans. “Everything hurts”

“You probably have a concussion.. Maybe some other injuries. They seem to be minor, at least..” Ken says, holding Ciel’s face to look at his injuries. He becomes frustrated. “I should go back there and kill all those idiots who even laid a hand on you”

Ken’s eyes widened when a sudden thought popped into his head. “Did anyone—“

“N-No”

It then made Ciel wonder if anything bad happened to Maggie. He wasn’t sure. He hoped nothing did happen.

“You’re lying”

“Hey, relax” Michonne frowns at him.

Ken stands up, then walks to Michonne and gets in her face. “Don’t you tell me to relax. You have no say in anything we do, now go back to where you were standing and mind your own business, bitch”

Michonne scoffs and does as he said.

“You don’t need to be so rude, Ken. She doesn’t seem like a bad person”

“Don’t be stupid. Theres always that possibility, now. Tell me, did anyone try to—“

“I said no”

“Ciel. You have that same look, you know you can tell me”

Ciel sighs. “Their leader. Did you see his bandaged eye?”

“You did that?”

“Yeah.. I woke up in his office I think. He came in. I don’t know what his plan was.. but, he.. you know” He points to the bruises on his face.

Ken feels more anger. “God dammit!”. Ken yells.

Everyone looks over at Ken and Ciel

“I just grabbed a screw driver and... stabbed his eye. Which got him off me. I tried to kill him but the guy Rick killed took me away. He didn’t touch me though”

Ken sighs. “You’re gonna need to learn how to fight, hand to hand. Defend yourself better. To hell if I’m gonna let anything like that happen to you..” Ken snaps. “Not again”

“You have a weird way of expressing how you feel”

Ken rolls his eyes, and lets Ciel goes back in the car to rest

Ken see’s Rick following Daryl, as he gets his stuff out of the trunk of the car.

Before he walks away, “Daryl,”

Daryl looks back, and Rick walks away.

“Your brother doesn’t deserve to be treated like he’s anything more than a prick”

“You don’t even know him”

“I’ve heard about Merle. You and him are nothing alike. I got a feeling he won’t do the same things you do for him. Just ‘cause he’s family, doesn’t mean he’ll act like it, like you do” Ken pats his shoulder

“You goin’ soft on me, Ken?”

Ken scoffs as he walks away. “Nah. But I’ve had my experiences with a family of pricks”

“Eat shit asshole!” Merle yells, then walks off with Daryl. Ken chuckled

Everyone packs up, and gets ready to leave.

Rick tells Michonne they’ll let her be on her own once Ken can patch her up.

“What were you and Ciel talking about?” Rick asks

“I think its better if we talk privately”

“Why?” Glenn asks.

Ken looks over at Michonne, and she groans. Annoyed with these people.

“Oh...”

Later, they stop on the road to move a truck that was in their way, Ciel and Michonne stayed in the vehicle.

Michonne sat in the back, and let Ciel sleep on her shoulder.

They overhear Glenn yelling at Rick. Ken wonders if something happened to Maggie, something like what happened to Ciel

He dropped it, and helped them move the truck in the way.

Michonne was caressing Ciel’s face, and his hair. But she stopped once everyone else got back in the car.

Ciel slept the whole way back to the prison.

Ken drove the rest of the way, while Rick talked to Carol and Carl at the gates.

When they got out, they were greeted by Carl, Hershel, Carol and Beth.

Beth hugged Rick, kissed his cheek then did the same to Ken. He frowned at Beth, wondering why she did that.

“I’m glad you’re all okay..” Carol says softly. Ken nods, and opens the door to wake up Ciel. He stepped out of the car. The way he looked made Carl worried.

“What happened?” He asks

Ciel sighs, and walks past him.

“Dad?” Carl looks at Rick

“They hurt him, and Glenn. But they’ll be okay”

Carl looks down, then follows Ciel and hugs him. 

Rick and Ken talked to Hershel about the Governor. Hershel then tells them about their visitors.

Carl keeps an eye on them. Rick, Ken and Hershel enter the block.

They walked past their visitors, Rick held the baby, who was officially named Judith.

Ken checked up on Ciel, then helped Carol hang clothes, since she was doing it alone.

“You’ve got a knack for that.” Carol says as Beth walks up the stairs with Judith.

“Just tryin’ to do my part” Beth responds

“Sophia used to wake the neighbors at 3am like clockwork. Ed would stay at a friends most nights till she calmed down”

Beth chuckled softly, “I always wanted a child..” she says smiling then glances at Ken

Ken scoffs. “Don’t look at me.” and walks away.

Carol and Beth chuckle, and Beth sighs. “She wouldn’t have made it if Daryl hadn’t been here. He just couldn’t stand to lose anyone else”

“Sounds like him.” Carol says with a slight chuckle.

“I don’t see why he had to leave. Merle sounds like a jerk.”

“Men like Merle get into your head. Make you feel like you deserve the abuse”

They weren’t aware of it, but Ken was still listening to them talk. He was beneath the stairs, cleaning his sword.

Nobody knows a lot about Ken, other than he’s a complete weirdo, who only shows how he cares for Ciel, and not anyone else.

Not even Ciel knows much about Ken’s past. Only the fact he lived in Japan, and studied medicine, and has a few siblings.

Other than those three things, Ciel knows nothing about him. Ciel believes he doesn’t need to know anything else about him. Ken is one of the most important people to Ciel, and who people were before doesn’t seem to matter anymore

Ken went to check on Michonne.

“She’s out like a light. Probably hasn’t slept for a few days. You don’t look any better.” Ken says.

Rick sighed annoyingly, “How long before she can travel?”

“We’ll have to keep an eye on her. I’m pretty sure she has a concussion. It’ll be a few days at least, if she’s up by then.”

Rick locks the cell she’s in.

“And how’s Ciel?”

“He’ll be fine”

“You seemed pretty upset earlier. What was that about?”

Ken sighs. “That kid’s been through too much“ Ken takes a deep breath. “Merle’s friend, the Governor, attacked him, probably would’ve killed him or r—“ He sighed. “Ciel told me he stabbed his eye with a screwdriver, which is how he didn’t”

Rick’s jaw clenches, as he puts his hands on his waist, and sighs. “The good thing is, he got away. Gotta make sure he’s really okay though..” He says quietly

“He’ll be fine. Anyone who comes even close to Ciel, will lose a hand. Maybe an eye or two”

“You’re probably more protective of Ciel than I am, which says a lot”

Ken chuckled awkwardly.

“Well..” Ken clears his throat, “He was a lot different when I first met him. The nightmares were worse, he never ate or talked. Even if he did eat, he’d just throw it all up. I was starting to think he’d die of starvation. When he ran into you, he’d gotten a little better. I just don’t wanna see him be like that again. No kid should go through something... So terrible” Ken sighs and storms off.

Rick’s suddenly worried. Ken’s never acted weird like that, even if it was mostly about Ciel.

He pushes his worries aside, and talks to others about what might happen with the governor.

Later Rick and Ken go in with everyone to meet the visitors. Ciel woke up and watched.

Rick asks Tyreese questions, debating about whether or not to let his group stay.

He seems like a good man, and when Rick says no, Ciel walks up to him

“The hell you think you’re doing?” Ken says. “You need to rest”

Ciel shrugs, pushing Kens hand off him, and walks next to Rick.

“Who’s this guy?” Tyreese asks kindly

“Ciel”

“Ciel, go back, and rest” Rick said.

“No”

“What?” Rick says, looking down at him.  Ciel moves around, looking at the mysterious newgroup.

“Rick. I can’t just—“

“Go back to your bed!” He yells, Ciel jumps.

“Dude..” Sasha intervened, frowning at Rick, glancing quickly at the startled Ciel. Using her facial expression to tell him shouting at him wasn’t necessary. 

Ken stands between Ciel and Rick. Rick looks at him, and Ken glares, warning Rick with his eyes.

“You need to calm down” Ken says.

Hershel pulls Rick aside to talk. Ciel isn’t the only one to think Rick is wrong about sending them away.

Ciel looks at the two others standing behind Tyreese.

“Oh, no.. What happened to your face?” He asks. 

Ciel gives them a sad-ish look, and they look away.

“Ciel, really. Ken said you have a concussion, you shouldn’t be walking around” Carl says

“So boring...” Ciel mutters as he walks past everyone. Carol softly chuckles, liking the fact that Ciel still wants to help.

Before he exits, he shouts. “Sending them out there isn’t a good idea Rick!”

Ciel sighs and goes back, flops on his bed and quickly falls asleep.

Just as Rick seemed to agree to let them stay, something happens and he starts to act weird, whispering to himself

“Why are you here?” Rick asks.

They all watch Rick.

“What do you want from me?”

“Dad?” Carl says

“Why are you— no”

Ken looks in the same direction Rick is, and sees nothing. “Rick—“ He muttered, but was interrupted by Rick’s rambling.

“I can’t help you. Get out!”

Rick turns and faces Tyreese and his friends

“Get— Get out!”

“Woah, woah, woah. Hey, come on. Woah, it’s all good” Tyreese says

“What are you doing?” Sasha asks

“Hey, easy, Rick, theres no need to—“

“You don’t belong here! Get out! Please!” Rick yells, startling Maggie and Carl

“Hey, man, relax” Ken says.

“Get out! Get out!”

“We’ll leave. We’re going..” Tyreese says quietly. 

“Ain’t nobody gotta get shot here. We’re going!” 

“What are you doing here?!” Rick yells

What was  _ he _ doing? Rick seems to have lost his mind. The group of strangers looked at Ken, who shrugged at them. 

“Just go.” Ken says calmly

Tyreese, Sasha and the two others leave.


	19. Chapter 19

Glenn uses chalk to draw a map of the prison. 

“Now, you said you found Tyreese’s group here?” Glenn asks Carl

“Yeah”

“We secured this”

“He thought he came through here” Carl points at the chalk-map

“Means theres another breach. Okay..” He rubs his face. “The whole front of the prison is unsecure. If walkers just strolled in, then its gonna be cake for a group of armed men”

“Why are we even so sure he’s going to attack” Beth asks. “Maybe you scared him off”

“He had fish tanks full of heads. Walkers and humans. Trophies. He’s comin” Michonne says 

“We should hit him now”

“What?” Beth asks

“He won’t be expecting it. We’ll sneak back in and put a bullet in his head”

“We’re not assassins” Carol says. 

“Well..” Ken says. Carol rolls her eyes.

“You know where his apartment is. You, me and Ken could end this tonight. I’ll do it myself” Glenn suggested, confidently. 

Michonne sighs, then slowly nods. Glenn looks at Ken for his answer. 

“Last time he didn’t know know you were coming. Yet you almost died. Daryl and Ciel were captured, and Ciel was badly hurt. You and Maggie were almost executed” Hershel says

“You can’t stop me” Glenn argued

“Rick would never allow this”

“You really think he’s in any position to make that choice?”

“Think this through clearly. T dog lost his life here. Lori too. The men that were here. It isn’t worth any more killing. What are we waiting for? If he’s really on his way, we should be out of here by now”

“And go where?” Ken asks

“We lived on the road all winter”

“Back when you had two legs and we didn’t have a baby crying for walkers every four hours” Glenn argues

“We can’t stay here” 

“We can’t run” Glenn shouted.

Maggie walks out.

“Alright. We’ll stay put. We’re gonna defend this place. We’re making a stand”

“Carl, you and I will go down to the tombs. We need to figure out where the breach is.”

“You got it” Carl responds

“You’ll need some help” Michonne says

“No. In case anything happens, I need you out here with Ken” 

After looking at everyone, “Who’s on watch?” He snaps. “Damn it” 

Glenn walks away.

* * *

Glenn and Carl get back from checking the tombs. 

“The tombs outside the boiler room are overrun again” Glenn says

“That whole section had been cleared” Beth says, closing and locking the door 

“It’s a steady stream of walkers” Carl says

“We’re wasting time. The governor is supposedly on the way and we’re stuck in here with walkers”

“Trapped between a rock and a hard place”

“For the last time, running is not an option”

“Glenn, if the tombs have filled up again, it may just be a matter of time before they push in here” Carol says

“Or until some fence gives away” Beth adds

“What if one of ‘em herds is passin’ through. Or settled?” Daryl says, pacing around the toom.

“Can’t handle that with just the few of us” 

“Okay. Alright we need— We just need to scout the far side of the prison. Find out whats going on” 

“You’re going out there?” Hershel asks

“I’ll drive” Ken says

“No. I’ll feel better if you stay here and help with the fortifications. I’ll take Maggie” 

Ken sighs. “You know if she’s up for that?”

Glenn sighs and walks away. 

Ciel was his cell, and overheard Glenn and Maggie talk about what happened in Woodbury. 

Maggie pushed Glenn, and told him to leave. 

Ciel walked down, and peeked in.

“Maggie?”

“Hey, Ciel” She looked up at him

“Can I?” He pointed to the space beside her on the bed.

Maggie nods and scoots over for Ciel

“Whats up?”

Ciel takes a deep breath. “I know how you feel. Ken kinda acts the same way Glenn is”

“You mean when you first met?”

“Back then, and.. Now”

“Now?” 

Ciel looked down, fidgeting with his fingers. Maggie grabs his body and brings him in for a hug. 

Beth comes in, “She’s hungry. Can you feed her? I wanna make daddy somethin’ to eat”

Ciel stands up and lets Beth give Judith to Maggie. Beth sits next to Maggie, and gives her the bottle. 

When Beth leaves, Ciel sits back down, and looks at Judith. 

“She’s cute” He says. 

“Yeah. She is” Maggie smiles. 

“I’ve never seen a baby this close before”

“Never?”

“Never. I used to see them at school... But they were kinda far away”

Maggie softly chuckles. 

* * *

Ken left with Hershel to talk to Rick, who was still outside the fence. 

“Rick!” Ken shouts. 

Hershel and Ken stand at the fence and see Rick walking towards them.

“You know I wouldn’t have hobbled all the way down here if it wasn’t important. Are you coming back soon? Glenn’s on a warpath. Smart as he is, he can’t fill your boots. I’m afraid he’s reckless. We need you now more than ever” Hershel says.

“Well, if you’re so worried about him, Ken can lead”

“I think everyone can agree when I say thats a bad idea” Ken says. “What’re you doing out here, man?” 

“I’ve—I’ve been—I’ve got.. Stuff out here. Stuff”

“How much longer do you need?” Hershel asks

“I don’t know. I don’t—“

“Is there anything we can help you with?” 

Rick stares at them, not answering. 

They turn to leave, but then Rick says, “I saw something”

They both turn back around. Ken puts his hands in his pockets, and sighs

“Lori. I saw Lor— I’m seeing Lori. Um. Look, I know it’s not really her. But there’s gotta be a reason. It’s gotta mean something, you know”

“Was it her on the phone?” Hershel asks

Ken stares at Hershel. Phone? Ken walks away, not wanting to deal with Rick’s craziness. 

Ken knows he could lead if he wanted, but he doesn’t. He won’t have enough time to make sure Ciel is okay, and he knows he’ll put Ciels life first, which isn’t something a leader should do. He’s gotten used to being in the group, and wouldn’t want to get everyone killed or cause a lot of drama.

He walks to Carol, who’s laughing with Axel, but out of nowhere, he gets shot. 

Carl and Beth run, and Carol is underneath Axels body. 

Ken runs past Carol, grabbing her arm to bring her to get proper cover. 

Once they’re safe, Carol hugs him. “Thank you, Ken” 

Maggie covered them both when they ran, Beth gave a gun to Carol. 

They see a van drive at full speed towards them, and bursts through the fences. 

Ciel runs out to Carl, Beth, Ken and Carol. 

The van stops in the middle of the field, and the back side opens, and over a dozen walkers walk out and go for Hershelwhos hiding in the grass. 

Carl and Carol switch shooting one of their enemies in the guard tower. 

Ken shoots the walkers going to Hershel, and Maggie finally gets rid of the guy on the guard tower. 

Then their enemies leave, and they shoot the walkers who’re wandering around. 

Ken, Ciel, and Michonne slice their heads off, and help Hershel get into the car, since Glenn just got back. 

They get past the one fence that isn’t broken down. 

Soon, Rick, Merle and Daryl get back into the safe part of the prison

“We’re not leaving” Rick says

“We can’t stay here”

“What if theres another sniper?” Maggie asks. “A wood pallet won’t stop one of those rounds”

“We can’t even go outside” Beth says

“Not in the daylight” Carol adds

“Rick says we’re not running, we’re not running”

“No, it’s wayy better to live like rats” Merle says sarcastically

“You got a better idea?”

“Yeah, we should have slid outta here last night and lived to fight another day. But we lost that window, didn’t we? I’m sure he’s got scouts on every road out of this place by now” 

“We ain’t scared of that prick” Daryl says

“Ya’ll should be. That truck through the fence thing, thats just him ringing the doorbell. We might have some thick walls to hide behind, but he’s got guns and the numbers. And if he takes the high ground around this place, shoot, he can just starve us out here if he wanted to”

“Lets put him in the other cell block” Maggie says. 

“No, he’s got a point” Daryl says back

“This is all you! You started this” Maggie accuses Merle

“Doesn’t matter who’s fault it is. What we need to figure out what to do next. Even I’m getting a little concerned here” Ken says

“You see? I said we should leave. Now Axel’s dead. We can’t just sit here” 

Rick walks away

“Rick! Get the fuck back here!” Ken yelled loudly, startling everyone 

It shocked Ciel to see him yell like that, especially at Rick.

Rick stops, and Ken goes over to him, “I get that you’re going through some weird shit. We all know why, and understand. But right now, you gotta keep your shit together. Everyone here trusts you enough to put their lives in your hands. Ciel, Carl, and Judith. Are trusting you. Pull yourself together and do something” 

Ken glares down Rick

“He’s kinda scary when he’s mad” Carl whispers to Ciel

“Yeah”

Merle chuckles. 

Later, Rick and Carl leave to check out the gates and courtyard filled with walkers. 


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You get to find out a little bit more about Ken :) But he shall remain mysterious... For now. I promise ya’ll will find out more about him.. Heheh.
> 
> I’m in a good mood, and kinda looking forward to the end of pt 1, cuz I got yummy plans for Ken and Ciel. 
> 
> Also, to clarify, nothing interesting happens with Ciel until the last couple chapters leading up to the end of pt 1. And after that, there’ll be more juicy stuff.

Everyone talks, but left Michonne and Merle out of their conversation. Glenn doesn’t want Merle in the prison, and says they should give him to the Governor and try to make a truce. 

Ken and Maggie stay on watch. 

“Never seen you so mad before” 

“What can I say? You guys’re growing on me” 

Maggie laughs. 

“It just pissed me off how he’d just walk away”

“You ever think about leadin’?”

“I’m not a leader. I wouldn’t consider the value of anyone’s life. Even if I am starting to like you guys. I doubt thats the kind of leader you’re lookin’ for”

“Starting?”

Ken hums in response. 

She sighs. “Glenn is really makin’ me mad”

“Yeah?”

“He’s being selfish. Making things about him”

“I’m sure he’ll come around. Theres nothing more frustrating than caring about someone who was in a situation where they couldn’t be helped”

Maggie looks at Ciel, and sees the odd look on his face. 

“You’re not just talking about Ciel. Are you?”

Ken sighs. And after a few, very long seconds, he walks away. 

Carl tells them theres something weird outside the fences. 

Maggie checks it out with the sniper

“Andrea” She whispered. “Get the others”

Glenn, Maggie, Rick, Daryl, Merle, Carol, Ken, Carl and Ciel get out their weapons. 

“Are you alone?!” Rick shouts

“Open the gates!” She yells back

“Are you alone!?” He yells again. 

Despite his question remaining unanswered, Rick tosses the keys to Daryl, and he opens the gates

As soon as she’s through, Rick checks her out. He makes sure she didn’t have a weapon, and had her on her knees. 

“Welcome back. Get up” Rick says as he brings them in their cell block. 

Carol and Andrea hug. 

“Hershel, oh my god” Andrea says, when she notices Hershels leg.

“I can’t believe this” She looks around. “Where’s Shane?”

Rick avoids eye contact

“And Lori?”

“She had a girl, but Lori didn’t survive” Ken says

“Neither did T Dog” Maggie adds

“I’m so sorry” Andrea mutters. “Carl, Ciel” She says in an apologetic tone. “Rick..”

After looking around, she speaks again, breaking the awkward silence. “You all live here?”

“Here in the cell block” Glenn responds

“There?” She points to their cells “Well, can I go in?”

Rick walks in front of her. “I won’t allow that”

“I’m not an enemy, Rick”

“We had that field and courtyard until your boyfriend tore down the fence with a truck and shot us up”

“He said you fired first” She says

“Well, he’s lying”

“He killed an inmate who survived in here.” Hershel says

“We liked him. He was one of us” Daryl adds

Andrea covers her mouth, shocked. “I didn’t know anything about that. As soon as I found out, I came. I didn’t even know you were in Woodbury until after the shoot-out”

“That was days ago” Ken says, crossing his arms, brows furrowed

“I told you, I came as soon as I could” 

She looks at Ken, then Maggie, back at Ken, then Glenn. “What have you told them?” She asks Michonne

“Nothing.”

“I don’t get it. I left Atlanta with you people and now I’m the odd man out?”

“He almost killed Michonne, and would’ve killed me and Ciel, and Maggie” Glenn says

Andrea points at Merle, “With his finger on the trigger. Isn’t he the one who kidnapped you? Who beat you?” 

She sighs, “Look, I can’t excuse or explain what Philip has done. But I am here trying to bring us together. We have go work this out”

“We can’t do that. There’s nothing to work out. Putting down our fences and beating Glenn weren’t the only things ‘Philip’ has done. We’re gonna kill him” Ken says

“Mm. We don’t know how, or when, but we will” Rick added

“We can settle this. There is room at Woodbury for all of you”

Merle chuckles

“I wouldn’t want anyone else in here sleeping in a house at Woodbury, not with the Governor around and alive” Ciel says. “I wouldn’t feel safe there”

“What makes you think this man even wants to negotiate? Did he say that?” Hershel asks

“No”

“Then why did you come here?” Rick asks

“Because he’s gearing up for war. The people are terrified. They see you as killers. They’re training to attack.”

“You know what. Next time you see Philip, you tell him I’ll take his other eye” Ken says

“We’ve taken too much shit for too long” Glenn says “He wants a war? He’s got one.”

“Rick. If you don’t sit down and try to work this out, I don’t know whats gonna happen. He has a whole town. Look at you” Andrea turns away from Rick. “You’ve lost so much already. You can’t stand alone anymore”

“You wanna make this right, get us inside” Ken says

“No”

“Then we got nothing to talk about” He walks away 

“There are innocent people!” Andrea grabs Ken’s arms, pulling him back. He glares at her. 

“If you think I give a shit about them, think again”

“Ken—“ 

“No—Your little boyfriend doesn’t seem like the type to stick to his word. Negotiating would be useless, killing him is the only way for any of us to survive here” He shrugs her hand off his arm harshly, then walks off.  The others agreed with Ken

Andrea and Michonne left to go outside to talk. Michonne quickly comes back, followed by Andrea. 

Michonne and Ken talk about Andrea. 

“I just remembered. A month after I met Andrea, she told me about this guy named Ken...”

“Where’re you goin’ with this?” Ken raises an eyebrow

“She told me a lot of interesting things about you” Michonne mumbles in a playful-like tone, her hand reaches down to squeeze Ken’s crotch. He smirks at her. 

As everyone watched Andrea drive away, Michonne and Ken snuck off to one of the empty cell blocks to fuck around.... Literally. 

Later that night, once they finished up, they came back to their own cell block. 

Beth was singing. 

Ken wasn’t fond of singers, but Beths voice was nice to hear. She didn’t sound terrible.

The guys chuckled when they saw Ken fix his belt when he walked in. Michonne was right behind him, fixing the wrinkles in her shirt.

Ken was stood with Hershel, Daryl and Rick. 

Rick said they’re going on a run in the morning. 

Ken went with them. 

As they drove, they drove past a man hoping to join them

When they left the man begging for them to stop and take him in, Ken couldn’t help but laugh as they kept ignoring him. 

~~

They arrived in town, and stopped at the first building to continue on foot. They went to the police station in the place Rick and Carl lived before. 

It was empty

“You got any other police stations in town?” Michonne asks

“I was the police here. Me and a few others guys. Ain’t a big town” 

He turns around and sighs. “Theres other places to check. May not have as many guns as were in here but—“

“We need as many guns as were in here” Michonne says. “Ammo too” 

“Yeah, we do. But right now, I only got a line on a couple. There’s a few places out on the main street. Bars, a liquor store. Owners had a gun or two behind the counter that people didn’t know about. I did, I signed the permits. They might still be there”

Rick looks at Michonne. “Do you have a problem with that approach?”

“No, Rick. I don’t have a problem” She gives Rick a bullet and walks away

“Nothing?” Ken asks as she walks past him. She shakes her head

They walk on the streets, and find a pile of burnt, dead bodies. They continue walking and see arrows on the sidewalks. 

Everyone takes their weapons out as they approach a weird setup in the town. 

Spikes everywhere, probably for walkers. 

A message is on the crosswalk, saying ‘ _Turn around and live_ ’

They walk past anyways. Another sign on a sheet, ‘ _Just listen_ ’

“Who the fuck put these up?” Ken asks

“Watch your language” Rick says, then looks at Carl. 

Ken laughs.

“Looks like someone already made this theirs” Michonne says

“Doesn’t mean they found what we’re looking for. Couple of the places are just up ahead. Lets get in and get the hell outta here”

They avoid the ropes. Rick sees one of the buildings he was talking about

“There. Tyrell’s. A shotgun and two handguns. License issued to Tyrell Debbs”

Carl pokes Rick and Ken when he sees the walker behind them. Michonne goes to kill it, “Wait” Ken says. 

They watch, and she gets stopped by the rope, then shot in the head from above. 

“Hands!” the man yells. Rick and Carl raise their hands. 

“Now you drop what you got and you go. Your guns. Your shoes. And those swords. All of it. 10 seconds”

“Run for the car now” Rick whispered to Carl, and the guy begins to count down from 10. 

“Dad” Carl whispers back

“We need that rifle. I can get up there” Ken whispers. 

When the man reaches 6, Rick aims his gun at the man. “Carl, go”

Carl and Rick run to their left, Michonne and Ken run to the other side. Rick hides behind a truck. 

When he reloads, and gets ready to shoot, he notices the man is gone. Ken shows up, and can’t see the man either. 

Until he gets shot at from the ground on the other side of the road. He continues to shoot at Rick, then before Rick or Ken can do anything, Carl shoots him. 

“You okay?” Rick asks Carl

“Yeah”

“I told you to run for the car. I didn’t want you to have to do that”

“I had to”

“Theres no avoiding it, anyways. Not anymore” Ken says 

“I know” Rick mumbled, sadly

Rick slaps the mans chest, and notices he’s wearing body armor. 

He rips open his shirt, and sees the bullet Carl put there. 

He rips the armor off to check his torso, and sees a bruise. “He’s alive”

“Do we care?” Michonne asks

“Probably not” Ken says back

Rick takes the mask off the man, and is shocked. “Yeah. We do” He says

Ken knew him too. 

He almost killed Morgan in the beginning. About 2 days after he found Ciel. He didn’t find enough medical supplies to help him, so he looked around and ran into Morgan. He almost killed him until he saw and heard Duane. He lowered his sword, and sighed. Then back away and left with his supplies.

They try to make their way into a building to set the man down, out of the streets 

“Keep an eye out for booby traps. Looks like he’s gotten pretty creative so far”

“Thought we were just gonna go in and get out” Ken says

“Well, I’m not leaving him on the street.”

“Look, I know you said he helped you—“

“He saved my life” Rick interrupts Michonne “He wasn’t like this then”

“Okay”

“Jesus, he has a son” 

“Think he’s in there?” 

Rick looks back at Michonne and Ken. Ken sneaks down to get in the building, but Michonne stops him, “Don’t. Booby traps”

Ken checks under the welcome mat. 

Booby trap. 

“Thanks” 

“Lets just get him inside and go” Michonne says, walking away. 

Michonne grabs his feet, Rick and Ken hold the upper half of his body. 

They approach another message. ‘Not shitting you’

Ken chuckles. 

“Nows not the time to laugh” 

Ken almost hit a wire that was in front of them, but Rick spotted it before. When they get past it, they see an axe aimed at the same spot with blood. 

“Carl, watch the wire” Rick says

They make it into another room

“I showed him that weapons locker last year”

“And it had all of this in it?” Ken asks. 

“No, not even half. He’s been busy”

They saw at least over 40 guns.

“The cot” Rick says, showing Ken where to put the man down. They rush over and set him down

Everyone begins to take some ammo, and guns, since he doesn’t need all of them. 

After a minute or two Rick says, “No. We’re gonna wait until he wakes up. Make sure he’s okay”

“Seriously? He tried to kill us”

“He told us to go. He didn’t know who we were”

“He tried to kill us and we didn’t

leave him for the walkers. He’s had a good say. He doesn’t need half of these guns. We do” Michonne says 

“We’re waitin’ for him to wake up. That’s it”

“Whatever man. Your call. I’ll keep watch” Ken walks away with a bag of chips

“Hey. We’re eating his food now?” Rick says

“Least he can do is share some food” Ken shrugs. “Mat said welcome” Michonne adds. She stands beside Ken. “Let me have some”.

Carl walks to Rick. “I’m going on a run”

“Where?”

“I thought maybe the one thing people didn’t loot was cribs and there’s that baby place that mom’s friend Sara ran. It’s just around the corner”

“Carl—“ 

“Dad, its just around the corner. And there’s all those walker traps”

“You’re gonna need some help carrying the box” Ken says

“What?”

“If you’re gonna get a crib, you have to get the box. It’s big and heavy. You’ll need help” Ken says as he munches on chips

“I’ll go with him” Michonne says

“Right there. Thats the deal. You get into trouble, you holler. Ken and I will hear it from here”

“Okay” 

Carl and Michonne leave. 

Rick smirked at Ken, looking at him from the side of his eye, “So, you and Michonne, huh?” 

“What?”

Rick chuckles. “We caught onto that, from the moment Andrea left, you two were gone for awhile”

Ken shrugs. “It’s not something you need to bring up”

Rick smirks. “Why not? It’s not everyday you get to be with someone”

“I’m not  _with_ anyone” 

“Okay, if you say so” Rick teases

Rick walks around, checking out one of the guns. 

They hear something small fall behind them. Where Morgan is laying down. 

Rick and Ken nod at each other. They look away, and Rick quickly looks back and knocks the man down. 

Ken holds out his sword, but Rick tells him to put it away. Ken does so. 

“Do you see who I am?” He asks Morgan. “Do you see who I am?” He repeats

“People wearing dead people’s faces” He responds

“Morgan, listen to me—“ 

“No, I don’t know you!” 

“You do know me!”

“I don’t know you!”

“Rick, this man looks unstable, who knows what he’ll—“

“He’s fine!”

Rick pins him against the wall, “You saved my life Morgan! You know me! Look at me” 

Morgan knocks him down, and chases him. Ken tackles Morgan and keeps him on the ground. 

“Hey! Man, rel—“ Morgan kneed Ken in the crotch, making Ken not able to use full strength to keep him down. Morgan stabs Kens shoulder, and is ripped off him by Rick

“Motherfucker!” Ken shouts. Holding his shoulder, and his hurting crotch.

Morgan is on top of Rick, “You don’t

clear, man. You turn. You just die!”

“You know me!” Rick yells

“I don’t know anyone anymore! You don’t clear!” 

Before Morgan stabs Rick too, Ken kicks him off, and holds him on the floor with his hands behind his back. 

Rick goes on his hands and knees, lowers his head to meet Morgans, as he struggles. 

“You know me!” Rick tells

“Crazy son of a bitch” Ken mutters

Rick points his gun at Morgan, “Please. Please kill me” He cries

Ken gets off of Morgan. 

“You okay?” Rick asked

Ken takes a deep breath. “Oh, yeah. I’m great”

“Let me look at it” Rick points to the stab wound in his shoulder

“I’m fine”

“You should put something on that. I don’t think I should have to tell you”

Ken scoffs and takes off his shirt, but stays facing Rick. He tries to put the bandage around his body, to cover his wounds

“Let me help” 

“I got it” Ken snaps. 

“Please, just kill me. Just—just kill me” Morgan begs

Finally Ken puts the bandage around himself.

“You found me last year in my front yard, Morgan. You and— You found me. You fed me, you told me whats happening. You saved me. My name is Rick Grimes, you know me. I’m not wearing a dead mans face” 

Ken looks at his shirt. One hole makes it possible to make more

He moves around to look for any extra clothes this maniac has. 

Rick talks to Morgan, and Ken moves things around with his one arm. 

It seemed like Morgan finally came to his senses. 

“Oh man.. Damn it, I know— I know you. I know who you are. You said you’d turn yours on, at dawn. Thats what you said. I mean, I hadn’t worked up to it yet, and then I did. On the roof every morning for days. For weeks. Me and my boy” He starts to chuckle. 

Ken found a dirty shirt. “This’ll have to do” Ken mutters

Rick looks back, and sees something that shocked him, but kept focus on Morgan.

“And then... Me. Just static though. Nothing but static. And then nothin’ but

nothin’. You weren’t there. You were never there”

“I was”

“No, not when I tried. I mean you said you would turn on your radio, every day at dawn!” Morgan shouts

“Morgan. I—“

“You said that you would turn on your radio every day at dawn!”

“I did!”

“And you were not there!!” Morgan shouts even louder. 

“I kept getting— I kept getting pushed further out. I had to, I had no choice” Rick stands up, and walks around. “I found my wife and my boys. I had people. I— I had fo keep ‘em safe. We kept getting pushed back deeper into the country. I swear to god, I didn’t have a choice”

Morgan kicks the radio to Rick. “You can have your radio back. ‘Cause it looks like I finally found you! You found your wife and sons. That’s what happened, right? You found them” 

Ken looks back at Morgan and Rick.

“And did they—Did she— Did your wife— Did she turn?”

“No, she died”

“So you didn’t have to see that, then. Of course not. Not like me. No” He laughs

“Not like me, not like my wife. You remember what happened to her? You remember what she was? Yeah” Morgan nods his head, lowering it

“Oh... You gave me the gun. You tried”

“What did I try, Morgan?” 

“I’m gonna go piss. This crazy is driving me crazy” 

Ken leaves the room. 

Ken overheard how Morgan saw his son eaten by his wife. 

It explained why he lost his mind. From what he remembered, Duane was a little older than Carl and Ciel. A kid. 

Ken left to do his business, then went back and stood by the corner of the window to keep watch. 


	21. Chapter 21

Rick approaches Ken while Morgan calms down

“Hey”

Ken looks at Rick. Ken subtly lets his limited emotions show on his face. He’s thinking of things that happened in his past, which makes him feel down.

It’s not totally seeable. Not on Ken. 

The usual expression on his face is.. Smug. Or annoyance. 

Now? It’s.. As if he’s... Unsure. 

Neither Rick or anyone has seen him like that ever since they met him. Except Ciel

When the world ends, and you have to survive and avoid the dead who try to eat you, you don’t always think of your family, not if they’re dead, or just. Gone. 

Not in Ken’s case. 

When things got real bad, it was nice for him to think of something else besides family. It was always a major issue for him. He could never get away, until the walkers came and ate everyone he ever knew. 

The only good person he knew, was his best friend. But he wasn’t sure where she was, and never thought about it again. 

Rick was able to see him with such an expression, and it made him concerned. 

“You alright?” He asks, leaning against the wall.

“Fine. Why?”

“You just— Look upset”

Ken shrugs, and stays looking out the window. 

Rick then goes back to talk to Morgan. 

Ken grabs his bag, and takes out one of the small bottles he had left from the bar, when Rick first killed two people. And he drinks it. 

He ignores Rick and Morgan talking. A few minutes later, Rick walk out of the room with a bag of guns, “Lets go” 

Rick stops and notices Ken drinking. “Put that away” He frowned.

Ken gives Rick a blank look and keeps drinking, then grabs another bag of guns. 

They’re out on the street, Carl and Michonne are back with a crib. 

“Hey, I was just about to come look for you” Rick says

“Sorry” Carl responds

“It’s alright. You’re here now”

Carl and Michonne look at Ken, who’s still drinking. “What happened?”

“Nothing”

“You okay, Ken?” Carl asks

“What he said. It’s nothin’. Just worry about yourself, kid” Ken says as he walks past them to get back to the car.

Even when they stop to talk to Morgan, Ken keeps walking. 

They load up the car, and Carl told them he thinks Michonne might be one of them. 

Then they get ready to drive back to the prison. Ken throws away the bottle, and walks up to Rick and Michonne — who were talking about.. Things — to put the bag of guns in the trunk. 

“You wanna drive? I probably shouldn’t. Ken’s in no state to drive either”

Michonne chuckles. “Yeah”

Rick nods. 

“I could drive. But I don’t want to” Ken says, and walks to the door, opens it and gets in. 

“Is he alright?” 

“I see things, he’s goin’ through things”

Michonne is confused by what he means, but makes her way to get in the drivers seat

He sits in the back, resting his head on the back of the seat. Drinking, again. They stop to take the backpack of the man who tried to join them earlier that day. 

When they get back, Ken had finished two bottles of liquor all to himself. The first was a smaller bottle, but the second was bigger. Rick had a small sip, but the rest of it was Kens. 

They’re greeted by everyone, Michonne quickly moves back to help Ken once she gets a sense of how fucked he is. She tries to help him, but he pushes her. 

“Don’t” He warns

“Whats up with him?” Glenn asks

Rick sighs, “He drank two bottles of liquor on the way back”

“Seriously? Why?” 

Rick shrugs. 

Ken walks towards the gate, and sits down, watching the walkers. 

“Did something happen?” 

“Maybe. I’m not too sure, but make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid. Who knows what he does when he’s drunk”

Glenn and Maggie nod. 

Ciel walks by. Rick holds out his arm to stop him, “Ciel, I don’t think—“

Ciel moves past him, and walks next to Ken. He sits down, and they talk. 

Everyone else goes back inside, Maggie and Glenn stay on watch in case the Governor comes back. They get curious as Ciel hugs Ken

“You shouldn’t be drinking, Ken.. It’s bad for you” 

Ken chuckles. 

“I’m serious. You should go sleep or something”

Ken sighs. “I’ll go with something”

“Please, Ken”

Ken looks at Ciel. 

Ciel could see the pain Ken is in, but isn’t sure why. 

“Alright” 

“Can you tell me why you’re sad?”

“Who said I’m sad?” Ken says. slurring his last few words

“I can see it in your eyes. You always hide behind some kind of.. Mask every day but when you get drunk, I can see past it”

“Its a story for another time”

“Promise you’ll tell me?”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever” 

Ciel had to keep Ken balanced as he walked down the stairs, nearly falling on his own.

Merle laughs at Ken. 

“Suck it. If I had my sword, I’d cut your head off” 

“Oohh, someones an emotional drunkie” 

Ken stops and takes Ciel’s sword. 

“Hey!” Ciel says, trying to take it back.

“Put it down, Ken. Don’t pay any attention to him” Rick says

Daryl just watches. 

Ken gives Ciel his sword back, letting the others think he’ll let someone speak to him that way. 

Ken chuckles, then lunges at Merle, punching him multiple times. 

Glenn watches, feeling a bit amused. 

Daryl and Rick pull him off. 

“Stay back!” Rick orders. 

Ken smirks and dusts off his hands. “That was just payback”

“You need to go lay down” Rick says. 

“Come on, lets go” Carol puts her hand on Kens back, he sticks his middle finger at Merle. 

“Its weird to see him like that” Glenn says. 

“Hey, Ciel, did he used to have a drinking problem?” Rick asks

Ciel sighs. “There were a few times when we would move around before we got to Atlanta, he’d drink, but he never had that much

“He’s gonna have one hella of a hangover in the morning. Do we have painkillers?”

Glenn nods, “About 2 bottles I think”

“Good. We need him for tomorrow” 

Ciel sighs, and goes to bed.

* * *

The next morning, Ken leaves with Daryl, Hershel, and Rick to see the Governor. 

Ken stayed outside with Daryl, since every few minutes he’d have the urge to throw up. Being the car didn’t help. 

“God dammit!” He curses. 

“Thats what ya get” Daryl jokes. 

“Screw you” 

Hershel chuckles, then they all hear a vehicle approaching. 

Daryl and Ken take out their weapons, and see 3 people get out

“What the hell, why’s your boy already in there?” 

“He’s here?” Andrea asks

“Yep” Ken responds. 

Andrea goes inside. 

Ken leans on the car, and groans. 

“The fuck is wrong with him?” one of the guys ask

“This idiot drank to much yesterday”

The man chuckles, and Hershel rubbed Ken’s shoulder. 

“Maybe I should go inside” Hershel says

“The Governor thought it best if he and Rick spoke privately”

“Who the hell are you?” Daryl asks

“Milton Mamet”

“Oh, great, he brought his butler” Ken says

Milton rolls his eyes, the other guy laughs

“I’m his advisor”

“What kinda advice?” Daryl asks.

“Planning. Biters. Uh, you know, I’m sorry. I don’t feel like I need to explain myself to henchmen”

“You better watch your mouth, sunshine” Daryl says. 

“Look, if you and I are gonna be out here pointing guns at each other all day, do me a favor, shut your mouth” The other guy says 

Daryl walks up to him, hoping for a fight

“We don’t need this. If all goes south in there, we’ll be at each others throats soon enough”

Ken scoffs. “We should kill these pricks. Why are we even keeping ‘em alive, to try and negotiate with a rapist”

“Hey, don’t assume things, dickwad” 

“Oh, I’m not assuming anything. How do you think your buddy in there lost an eye?” Ken says. 

The other guys look at them in disbelief. 

“Did he really—“ 

Ken nods

“That son of a bitch. I oughta go in there right now—“ Daryl started to walk inside, but stopped as Hershel started talking

“We aren’t equipped to fight a whole town. If Rick can come up with an agreement, we won’t have to deal with these guys any longer. That man will get whats coming to him soon enough. As much as I want him dead too. We can’t do this now” Hershel says. 

Ken walks a bit further away, getting hit with more nausea. 

Andrea comes out, and sits down. 

Ken coughs, and groans. 

“Whats wrong with you?” Andrea asks 

“Had too much to drink” Hershel answers. 

She walks behind Ken, and rubs his back. “Don’t touch me” He says, and walks off. 

“Seriously? Even after everything, you’re gonna treat me like that?” 

“How else am I supposed to treat you? You’re fucking the prick who hurt Ciel. Don’t forget what I said before. And you’re on the enemies side. We’re not friends, never were”

“Even though we—“ Andrea’s face shows her feelings of betrayal. She sighs. “Fine, whatever” 

She goes back and sits down somewhere else.

The two guys and Andrea soon wander around to kill walkers nearby. Andrea gets back, but Daryl and the other guy aren’t. 

“You and Andrea, you used to be together?” Hershel asks. 

“No” He chuckles.

“Hm”

“Milton sits next to Hershel. “May I ask how you lost your leg?”

“I was bit”

“So you cut off your leg to keep the infection from spreading? Interesting” He puts on his classes. “How long after the initial bite?”

“Immediately”

“You didn’t bleed out?”

“We have good people. They took care of me. Especially Ken. He practiced medicine before all this happened”

“Doctor?” 

“Almost” Ken says. 

“May I see it?” Milton says. “Your stump, I’d like to, um...” He clears his throat. “See where the amputation was. How high above the bite”

“I’m not showing you my leg”

“It’s important data”

“I just met you. At least buy me a drink first” Hershel starts laughing

“Don’t talk about drinks, man” Ken mumbles. 

Milton and Hershel laugh more

Then Hershel walks over to sit next to Andrea.

“What happened with Maggie, and Ciel?” Andrea asks. 

“He’s a sick man” Hershel responds. 

“What am I gonna do now? I can’t go back there”

“You’re family. You belong with us. But if you join us, its settled”

“I know.”

Daryl and the other guy get back. Daryl offers Ken a cigarette. Ken takes it, and Daryl lights it up. 

The door opens, and the Governor walks out. Rick does too. Seems as if they’d fought, due to a bruise forming on the governor’s face. But neither of them say a word, and got in their cars and left

They arrive back at the Jail. They all go inside, Rick gets a gun and suggest to them to get ready for war. 

Ken agrees, then goes to sleep. 

Rick tells Hershel the Governor wants Ciel, since he’s responsible for stabbing his eye. Or Michonne for killing his daughter.

But they wouldn’t ever give Ciel away, especially not to the Governor, not after what he did to Maggie and possibly tried to do, to Ciel.


	22. Chapter 22

Everyone packed their things to leave the prison. Temporarily, or, if necessary, permanently. 

It was getting close to winter, so everyone stayed warm. 

Carl and Ciel were mad at Rick for wanting to give Michonne to the Governor, even when Ciel thought it was him who the Governor wanted. 

Ciel and Carl liked Michonne, she was nice, and strong. Everyone expected Ken to be upset, since Michonne and Ken have been seemingly spending a lot of time together. 

But he wasn’t. He’d quickly grown accustomed to her, but he could easily live without her too. He could easily live without everyone there, as long as he had Ciel.

Everyone was packed, and went to their spots, preparing for an ambush against Woodbury. They’d easily won against them, using the walkers, and the alarms. 

Beth, Judith, Hershel, Carl and Ciel stayed back while everyone else fought. It wasquick fight. 

Carl killed a kid who was running from the gunfire. Even though he surrendered. Then gave advice to Ciel, that he should never hesitate and do the same thing. 

When they got back to the Jail after it was clear of enemies, Carl lied to Rick about what happened with the boy he shot, so Hershel told him what he really did and said to Ciel. 

And Ciel agreed with why Carl had killed the other kid. He killed him, not willing to take the risk of anyone else dying. 

Carl and Ciel also wanted to go back to Woodbury with them. Sadly, neither of them could go. 

Ken was impressed with Carl for just killing a kid. It takes guts to kill someone, even if you truly don’t have to. Which, in Carl’s case, it wasn’t necessary. 

They all got ready to go to Woodbury. 

During their drive, they came across one of the vehicles that were at the prison when they attacked. Ken and Michonne sliced the heads off of some walkers and met a woman who’d told them what happened. 

By nightfall, they arrived, and were getting shotas soon as they left the woods. They brought the lady, Karen, with them. They saw Tyreese and Sasha who stopped aiming their weapons at them when Karen told them they saved her. 

They weren’t aware Andrea tried to get to the prison, and figured she was captured by the Governor once they learned of it. 

They went to the same place they held Ciel, Maggie and Glenn. It shocked Tyreese that people were held captive in Woodbury. 

They come across a door, and theres blood on the floor. 

Rick opens the door, Daryl gets ready to shoot. 

They see Milton dead, and Andrea on the floor. Then realize, she was bit. 

She asks how everyone is. They’re sad she’s gonna be dead soon. 

Andrea shared her thoughts about how happy she was for Michonne for finding Ricks group. 

“I just didn’t want anyone to die” Andrea says weakly

She sits up, “I can do it myself” rejecting Michonne’s help to end her life. 

“No” Michonne says. 

“I have to. While I still can”

Tears fall down Michonne’s cheeks, she held Andrea’s hand. 

“Please? I know how the safety works” Andrea says, looking at Rick.

Rick gives Andrea his gun

“Well, I’m not going anywhere.”

Andrea looks at Daryl, then Ken. 

“I tried.”

“Yeah..” Rick whispers. “You did. You did..” 

He gets up, and the group start to leave. 

“Ken.. Can you stay too? Please?”

Ken looks at Rick, he nods and Ken goes back, kneeling next to her. 

She smiles at Michonne, then Ken. 

“Can you do one last thing for me?” Andrea asks Ken. 

“Well, it depends” 

Andrea softly laughs. “Don’t be a dick, come here..” 

She leans forward, with the help of Michonne. She puts her hand on Ken’s cheek. “One last time?” She asked quietly, her voice barely above a whisper 

Ken looks down at her lips, over to Michonne, then looks back into Andrea’s eyes, and kisses her gently. 

They part ways, and she smiles. Holding Michonne’s hand for a moment, then holds Ken’s before she shoots herself. 

Michonne grabs the gun, and leaves. 

Ken was still there, looking at Andrea’s head with a hole in it. Rick went back, saw him and placed his hand on his shoulder and told them they should all leave. Ken got up, took a deep breath and they all walked back to their vehciles, bringing the Woodbury survivors since the Governor wasn’t there anymore. 

Ciel greeted Ken with a hug, since he noticed Ken looked... Something. He looked sad, but also mad. 

Only Ciel could see the other emotions on Ken, unlike the others. 

If their bond was so strong only after a month of knowing each other, spending a year and a half together made their bond stronger. Ciel started to see past the walls Ken put up, since Ken allowed Ciel to be more closer to him than before, which.. Says a lot. For them, at least. 

Their group grew, and grew, over the months. Ever since they let people from Woodbury and even other groups join them. 


	23. Chapter 23

It’s been 6 months since they’ve seen the Governor. Since Andrea died.

32 days since they had an accident. They now had a lot more people, more crops, pigs, horses, ect. 

Carl and Ciel seemed and felt like the odd ones out within the amount of kids at the prison. They didn’t like doing kid stuff like the others did.   


Perhaps it was from their rough journey they spent on the road before they found the jail, and everything afterwards. 

They had time to relax, which also meant Ciel’s trauma was catching back up to him, but it wasn’t as bad as it used to be. Occasionally he’ll have a nightmare, but thanks to Hershel, Glenn, Rick, Carl, and Ken, those occur less frequently.

Despite being closer to Ken, and Ken being a former doctor, Hershel and Glenn were more helpful when it came to Ciel overcoming what he had to endure before he met Ken.   
Hershel explained was it was that happened to him, and guided him through it, to overcome it.

The first 4 months they spent in peace from people trying to kill them, were hell. But of course, he has family, who never stopped loving or supporting him.

Bringing in more people, more groups, also meant the possibility of more kids. 

No, not baby-making and babies, but kids who’re already... Kids. 

Because of that, Ciel, for the last 3 months, has been spending a lot of time with one of the other kids there. An odd amount of time. Carl often teased him of it, mostly out of anger towards the girl he chose to spend time with.

Ken and Ciel would also tease each other since Ken’s grown quite the reputation of spending the night in one of the guard towers with other women. Different women. Each night. Mostly he was was with Elle or Michonne, even if Michonne usually left for long periods of time. 

Ken was never one to settle down with one person. Even so, Ciel still told him saying one day he’d find someone he’d spend the rest of his weird life with. Everyone has someone.

* * *

Ken, Glenn and Daryl got back from a quick run. Ciel had asked for any comics they might come across, since he and Carl have been reading a lot of them 

Ken handed Ciel some magazines. Porn magazines

“Hey! The hell is this?!” Ciel spat after looking at the cover to see _naked_ ,  adult women, and... Body parts he hasn’t seen before. Not like that, anyways. 

“You wanted comics. Thats all I found”

Daryl and Glenn laugh. 

“This isn’t funny. These aren’t the comics I meant. Idiot” Ciel chuckles and walks away after giving them back to him

* * *

Carl was continuing his chores, and since Ciel just finished some of his, he spent time with some of the other kids.. Because why not?

He soon regretted spending time with them. 

He was sitting on the grass with Molly, Luke, Callie, Lizzie, and Mika. Callie had her arm wrapped around Ciel’s.

They were all around Ciel’s age, or younger. It was clear that Callie liked Ciel, but Ciel’s oblivious when it came to girls. Or anything even remotely close to a relationship that isn’t a family type. 

It wasn’t terrible to be around kids his age for a change. Even if they seemed.. Stupid, and weak. He knew what that was like, so he didn’t care too much

They were by the fence, Lizzie, Luke, Mika and Molly were saying hello to walkers and giving them names

“Why do you give them names? They aren’t even people” Ciel asked

“So? They used to be” Lizzie says. 

Ciel sighs in frustration. He knows something is wrong with her. But its not use to argue with her

Carl and Patrick walk behind them to greet Ciel, and overheared them talking to the walkers. 

“You’re naming them?” Carl says

Mika groaned frustratedly, “Well, one of them has a name tag, so we thought all of them should” 

“They had names when they were alive. They’re dead now”

“No they’re not. They’re just different” Lizzie argued

“What the hell are you talking about? Okay, they don’t talk. They don’t think. They eat people. They kill people” 

“People kill people. They still have names” 

“Have you seen what happens? Have you seen someone die like that?” 

“Yeah, I have”

“They’re not people, and they’re not pets. Don’t name them” 

“We’re supposed to go read. Come on” 

The 4 kids walk away, Callie stays beside Ciel who’s standing beisde Carl. 

“You comin’ to story time tonight?” Mika asks Patrick.

Patrick looks at Carl, and Ciel, then back at Mika. “Uh, yeah”

“See ya then” Mika smiles and walks away

Ciel and Carl give Patrick a judgey look, but less like a harsh judgement, and more playful. 

Patrick is the only other boy their age, as far as they knew. The other were girls

“I go sometimes. I’m immature. You wouldn’t dig it. It’s for kids. I’m gonna head up there too. I’ll catch you later, young sirs. And Callie” He bowed

Callie giggled. 

“Yep” Carl says. 

Carl walks to the middle of the field with Ciel, but noticed Callie was following them too. 

“Why are you following us?” Carl asks in a nasty tone. 

“I wanna hangout with you guys” Callie says. 

“No, you just wanna hangout with Ciel. Go read kids books and leave us alone” 

Callie looks down, “I—... Sorry. I’ll see you later, Ciel”

“Bye” 

Callie walks away. 

Ciel chuckles. “You don’t need to be so rude to her. She’s nice” 

“Dude, come on. You can’t tell me you like how she sticks to you like a leech” 

Ciel shrugs. “What else should I do?”

“Just tell her to leave you alone” 

Ciel sighs. “I guess so”

“Anyways... Michonne came back today. She brought some more comic books for us to read” He shows Ciel the comics.

“Cool. Where is she?”

“She and Ken left to go on a run” Carl says, almost sounds like he’s upset about it. 

“Oh..” Ciel chuckled quietly, “When Ken left earlier, I asked him to bring any comics he might’ve found. He brought porn magazines instead”

Carl laughs loudly, “Seriously?” 

“Yeah” Ciel laughed with him.

”You should’ve kept them” Carl smirked, Ciel’s eyes widened a bit. 

“Kept the— Why?!”

Carl chuckled, “Um, well...” He sighed, “Nevermind” 

Then they both sigh at the same time.  Carl looked back to see Carol handing out food  “Well.. I’m hungry, lets go get some food” 

“Okay” 

Carl and Ciel walk over to Carol. 

“Hey Carl, Ciel. Want some food?” Carol says, smiling.

“Yes please” Carl says. 

She gives the a bowl of meat to them, and they walk back to the field. 

They eat while watching the horses. 

“Something is wrong with violet”

“The pig?”

“Yeah. She didn’t look too good this morning”

“But the others are fine?”

“I think so”

Ciel sighs. “Speaking of something being wrong with—“ He _‘coughed’_ “That thing with Lizzie earlier. The way she said the walkers are just.. Different” 

“I know. Its so stupid to name them” 

“Yeah..” Ciel looked at Carl, then at the comics he still had with him.

“Uh, so, when do you think you’ll be done reading the comics?”

“Maybe by tomorrow if I stay up late to read again”

“Cool”

The two boys eat in silence for a few minutes. 

“I’m gonna check out story time” Carl says

“Why? I thought you didn’t like story time ‘cause its for kids”

“I don’t know. I’m just bored, I guess. You wanna come?”

“Nah. I should do some more chores or something. I haven’t done much today”

“Okay. Let me take this back for you” Carl grabs the bowls an walks back. 

“Thanks”

When Carl was far away, Callie sneaked up behind Ciel. “Boo!” 

Ciel jumps. “What the hell?” 

“Hi” She smiles at him

“I thought you left”

“I did but I went to the see the horses. Saw Carl leave just now so..”

“Oh, okay”

Callie sits beside Ciel. 

“You know.. My sister told me cool stuff today” Callie says, breaking the awkward silence and stretching her arms out. 

“Like what?” Ciel looks at Callie, and notices the way the sun shines on her hair. It looks soft. She smiles at him, and leans in closer to Ciel’s face. “Don’t move... Close your eyes” She whispers. 

Ciel does as she says, and closes his eyes. He feels something soft touch his lips, and he squints one eye open. 

Callie moves back, no longer kissing Ciel. “You can open your eyes now” 

Ciel’s eyes open. He feels Callie’s hand on his, and looks down at it. He grabs her hand too, and smiles. She leaned to kiss him again, allowing him to try to kiss her back, which, he does, awkwardly. 

Little did they know, Rick and Carl watched from a distance. Rick was smiling, realizing how much his sons are growing. 

Carl was a little mad. He wasn’t sure why. He just was. 

He went back to tell Ciel what he saw Carol doing with the kids— Teaching them about knives. Probably without their parents permission. 

Carl walked away, and Rick returned his attention onto the pigs, instead of peeking in on Ciel’s first kiss. 

“Your sister taught you that?” He asked

Callie nods. “She told me a lot of other stuff too, but we can try it later...” She smiles at him. Callie stands up, and walks away. 

“Come on” She says, looking back at him. 

Ciel gets up and walks with her. 

“Where’re we going?” 

“I don’t know. Just... around” She smiled

* * *

Later that day, the group comes back from the run. 

Rick greets them, then notices Zack wasn’t there. Daryl had already left to tell Beth he’s dead

Ken and Rick talk on the way inside their cell block. 

“Hey” Rick says

“Whats up?”

“Gotta tell ya somethin’” Rick can’t help but smile for some reason. 

“What is it?”

“You know how everyone knows how that girl, Callie likes Ciel?”

“Yeah..?”

“Well, I saw ‘em on the field. Alone. I thought we’d have a bit more time before we had to give both him and Carl  _ that _ talk.”

“What tal— Ohh” Ken laughs. “Good luck” Ken pats Ricks shoulder.

“Why do you think I’ll give him that talk?”

“You’re their dad. That’s _your_ job” Ken says as he walks away

Rick sighs, silently agreed with Ken despite him already being gone, then goes off to talk to Hershel about something else.

Hours later, Michonne visits Ken and tells  him her plans, then they fool around, spending the night in one of the guard towers.

That night, Callie and Ciel spend the night in the same Cell, since Callie doesn’t have a bunkmate. Her sister stays in Ken’s cell. Even if he’s with someone else in the towers. 

Callie and Ciel practiced kissing, since it was both their first time kissing someone. Through all of that, Callie had something more fun in mind, which they attempted to experiment with later on in the night. 

Callie’s sister, Elle, is a lot like Ken, which is why they fool around a lot, especially when Michonne isn’t around to satisfy Ken. Although, Elle is a little more manipulative.. On a more amateur level. 

Elle knows how much Callie likes Ciel, and told her ways she can have Ciel wrapped around her finger. She showed Callie how to do it. 

Ciel was oblivious, so he went along with whatever Callie was doing.

Carl was upset when Ciel didn’t even come to bed that night, so in the morning when Rick woke him up, Carl told him Ciel never went to bed. 

Rick wasn’t too concerned but would later talk to Ken and Glenn about it, assuming it had something to do with Ciel and Callie kissing. 

Out of nowehere, they all hear gunshots from inside the jail. Michonne went back after trying to go back out on a run, Carl was told to join Maggie in the tower, but disobeyed to help Michonne who was injured outside the fences.

Rick runs back into Cell block D. Which is the same cell block Ciel and Callie are in. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gettin’ close to the end of pt. 1 :)  
> It won’t take long to upload pt 2, maybe a few weeks to overlook and edit some chapters :P Sorry 4 lack sex during pt 1. 
> 
> But imagine lil stoopid n slightly traumatized Ciel fucking someone... Not quite yet :’)
> 
> I’d.... Also *coUgH* Appreciate *SneEZe* SoME *FaLLS* Feedback *Dies*


	24. Chapter 24

Rick went in the cell block, and saw Daryl. Rick was given a gun, and helped the screaming people get out. 

“Isn’t this where Callie sleeps?” Rick asks

“Yeah, why?” Daryl responds

“Ciel never went to bed last night. At least not his own. I saw him and Callie in the field the yesterday. He might be here”

When Glenn showed up, he, Rick, Ken, and Daryl killed all the walkers in the cell block. 

“Ciel?!” Rick calls

“Wait, Ciel’s in this block? Why?” Glenn shouts

“He and Callie were hangin’ out yesterday“

“Damn” Ken mumbles. “She really told Callie to—“

“To what?” Glenn says aggressively, glaring at Ken. 

“Never mind, we’ll talk about it later” 

“Ciel?!” Glenn calls out 

They all ran up the stairs, all the walkers were dead. 

“Ciel?!” Rick shouts. 

They get to Callie’s cell, and see Ciel kneeling down, looking at a dead, bloody Callie, a dead walker not too far away from her.

“Ciel—“ Rick tried to say, but gets interrupted. 

“She saved me” Ciel mumbles, frowning at Callie’s corpse. 

“I was... On the top bunk. A walker came in, almost took a bite outta me. She grabbed it at the last moment so she got bit... Eaten.. instead” 

Rick sighs. Glenn sits next to him, and rubs his back. 

“Why were you in here anyways?” Rick asks 

Ciel doesn’t answer. He just held Callie’s hand.

Ken couldn’t help but chuckle, but as he did, he walked away. He wasn’t laughing at how Callie died. But something else..

“Come on, you shouldn’t be here any longer than you have to” Rick says. 

Rick walked with Ciel back to the get fresh air.

People started going back in the cell block to bring their dead out to bury them. Elle cries for her sister, despite saying how much she always hated her. Everyone knew it wasn’t true, seeing her crying for Callie proved that. 

Carl left Michonne and Maggie to see Rick and Ciel. 

Carl hugs Rick, even though Rick said to stay back. Carl apologizes for helping Michonne earlier, instead of going in the tower.

Then Rick tells them what happened in the cell block.

“You okay?” Carl asks Ciel. He saw the saddened expression on his face, and got worried.

“Um, Callie and Patrick died” Rick says 

“Oh..”

“Come see me later. I think we should talk about what happened” Rick says. Ciel nods and walks away, Carl follows. 

He doesn’t talk to Ciel, he just.. walks with him.

* * *

Ken and the others find another walker, who wasn’t bit and had no wounds. 

“Pleurisy aspiration” Ken says, examing the body. “He just choked on his own blood and died. It’s what caused the blood trailing down his face” He points to it’s face, fingers following the blood trail.

“I’ve seen them before” Rick says. “On a walker outside the fences”

“I saw ‘em on Patrick too” Daryl adds

“It’s from the internal lung pressure building up” Ken says. 

“Like, if you shake a soda can and pop the top” Another guy adds, who’s also a doctor

“Just Imagine your eyes, ears, nose and throat are the top” Ken says. 

“It’s a sickness from the walkers?” Bob asks. 

“No, these things happened before they were around. Could be pneumococcal. Or an aggressive flu strain” 

“Someone locked him in just in time” Hershel says. 

“Nah, man. Charlie used to sleepwalk. Locked himself in. Hell, he was just eating barbecue yesterday. How can somebody die in a day just from a cold?” Daryl says

“I had a sick pig. It died quick. Saw a sick boar in the woods too” Rick says

“Pigs and birds. Thats how these things spread in the past. We need to do something about those hogs” Hershel says

“Maybe we got lucky. Maybe these two cases are it” The other doctor says. 

“Haven’t seen anybody be lucky in a long time. Bugs like the run through close quarters. Doesn’t get any closer than this”

“Everyone in here has already been exposed to whatever this is” Ken says.

* * *

Later, Ken and the other council members talk about what happened, and try to figure out what to do. 

“Is anyone showing symptoms that we know of?”

“We can’t just wait and see. There’s children. It isn’t just the illness. If people die, they become a threat” Carol stated

“We need a place for them to go. They can’t stay in D. We can’t risk going in there to clean it up”

“We can use cell block A” Ken says

“Death row? I’m not sure thats much of an upgrade” Glenn says

“It’s clean. That’s an upgrade. Think that’ll work for Dr. S?”

“I’ll help Caleb set it up” Hershel says

They all hear coughing and quickly sit up to see who it is. They get outside the doors, and see Karen and Tyreese walking by.

Then approached the couple. 

“We think Patrick died by some kind of flu. Judith’s in that cell block. She’s vulnerable. Anyone that could be sick or even exposed shouldn’t be in there” Ken says. 

“It killed Patrick?” Karen asks

“She’s gonna be okay. Now that we know what Patrick died from we can treat it, right?” Tyreese says

“Don’t panic. We’re going to figure this out” Hershel says. “But we should keep you separate in the meantime. We’ll have Caleb take a look at you. I’ll see what we have in the way of medications”

“David from the Decatur group, he’s been coughing too”

“I’ll get him. There’s some empty clean cells in the tombs, right?” Glenn asks Sasha. 

“Yeah, we’ll meet you there” She looks at Tyreese and Karen. “Come on. Lets get you settled” She walks with them to follow Glenn

“Have to call another meeting later”

“Alright” Daryl says. “Me and Ken will get to burying the dead ones”

“You both wear gloves and a mask” Hershel says

“Uh-huh” Daryl muttered, then he and Ken walk away

* * *

Rick approaches Ciel and Carl in the field. “Carl, let Ciel and I talk alone for a moment”

“Ok. I’ll see you later, Ciel” 

“Yeah”

Rick sits next to Ciel, and grunts as he does so. “What were you doing with Callie?”

Ciel sighs. “She said she wanted to do some stuff her sister told her about. It was... interesting so I went along with it..” 

“Did you and Callie have sex? Is that what you did?”

“Is that what its called?”

“It depends on what you two did. I’m only assuming, but you need to tell me”

“What.. is exactly is sex?“

“It normally involves a boy and a girl. Boys, especially around your age start to think about it a lot since they’re getting older—“

Rick then gives Ciel the sex talk. He said sex should be special, and with someone you love, or have feelings that are similar to love. He used Glenn and Maggie, Tyreese and Karen as an example of love. 

Rick clears his throat, “Normally, when.. A boy or girl needs to be educated of this is when they’re a little... Older. Carl’s age for example. You’re not far behind him. Soon you’ll probably notice.. Um, a lot of... Changes with your body, but just know now, it’s normal. Nothing to be ashamed of” 

Ciel glances down and shifts around, uncomfortably. “We didn’t do that. She touched me.. I didn’t really like it so we just talked and ended up falling asleep. Did I do something wrong?” 

“No, no. You didn’t, it’s good you just talked. And it’s my fault for not giving you this talk sooner. I just didn’t think you’d.. Need it for awhile longer” 

“I don’t think I loved Callie. I liked her. But only as a good friend..” Ciel says, feeling shameful of himself. “I guess that sex explains why Ken’s always in the guard towers..”

Rick sighs awkwardly, “Yeah”

“Ken doesn’t love them. He told me he doesn’t love people like that”

“Well, Ken... Is a weird guy. We both know that, but you don’t have to do things like he does. Its not a bad thing as long as Ken respects the girl he’s with, treats her right. That’s how it always should be, understand?”

“Yeah..”

“Good. Just be careful next time. Talk to me if.. You ever feel like you’d go further than you did with Callie”

“Okay..”

Rick rubs Ciel’s head, “Ken isn’t the person to go to for advice like this. If anything, ask me, or Glenn”

Rick walks away.

“Hey, Rick?”

“Yeah?”

“You said.. earlier, ‘sex with girls’. There’s another way to—Is it there another way to.. Do it? Like what happened to me? Is that—“

“Uhh.. Well, yeah, I mean—“

“Rick!” Maggie yells. Rick looks back to the fence, and sees the walkers pushing against it too much

“Oh, shit!” He shouts. “We’ll talk about that later, okay?” He and Daryl met up with Maggie and others to kill the walkers, and stop them from knocking down the fences. Ciel went inside.

He ran into Ken in the tombs. Ciel wanted to know more about sex, since he only knows a bit. But it was still confusing

He saw Ken walking down the halls with meat on a stick. 

Ciel rushed over to ask if Ken can show him what sex is like, since he still wonders about it

Ken chokes on his food. “Where’d you get the idea to ask me for help with that? Of all things?”

Ciel shrugs. “Callie told me some stuff, then Rick did. We almost did that last night, but I don’t really understand yet, so I want you to show me” 

Ken chuckles. “No. Don’t ask anyone to show you what sex is. If you don’t understand it, don’t try it again. Not till you’re older at least” He laughs a little more 

Ciel looked at him blankly. 

Ken cleared his throat, “Alright, look. Callie shouldn’t have done what she did last night, but I guess Elle is to blame for it. If someone offers that again, don’t do it unless you have a full understanding of it, and you know the person **_very_** well. And don’t ask me to explain it, okay?”

Ciel sighs, still confused. “Okay”

Ken then met up with Rick, Daryl and Maggie to help. The fence was about to go down from the walkers. There was at least 30 of them piling up. 

Ken ran back, to get the truck. Rick climbed in the back and put the pigs in a crate, and throwing them on the ground after cutting their stomachs to distract the walkers.

* * *

Ciel and Carl were making something to put on Patrick’s grave. Carol walks in

“Do you know if Patrick was Catholic?” Carl asks, picking up and showing her the pieces of wood he attached to make a cross. 

“He said he was a practicing atheist.. Ciel could you let me and Carl talk alone, please?”

Ciel looks at Carl, then Carol, then Carl again. “Um, yeah. Sure..”

He stands up, and walks around the corner, and walks past Elle. She stopped, and looked behind her. 

“Hey, kid” She says

Ciel turns around, “Ye—“ Ciel fell back, after Elle punches him. 

“Thats for getting my sister killed you little brat”

Ciel holds his face, whimpering at the throbbing pain in his face.

She punches him once more, then stands up and kicks him. 

“She liked a worthless piece of shit like you! And you let her die!” 

She kept kicking him, then Ken walks in on them. 

“Elle, what the fuck?!” He dropped his food on the ground

Elle quickly grabbed his arms, and held Ciel in a chokehold, putting her knife on him. She cuts his neck, letting it bleed a little. Ciel let his head hang down, his eyes closed. He hoped if he tried to ignore the pain, and think of something else. It’ll go away.

Ken’s eyes widen, “Elle, put the knife down”

Elle’s eyes water, “He’s the reason my sister died” 

“No, he’s not. It was some kind of flu thats going around. Ciel had nothing to do with it”

“He should’ve been killed, not Callie” She cries harder

“Elle, just calm down” Ken’s hand grips on his gun, tugged in between his shirt and belt

Elle looks at Ciel’s slightly bruised face just as she’s about to slice Ciel’s throat.

And Ken quickly pulled his gun out and took the shot.


	25. Chapter 25

A gunshot echo’s. Carl and Carol run towards the source and see Elle on the ground with a bullet in her head. 

Ken is holding Ciel, who’s frozen in fear. Ken puts pressure on Ciel’s neck. 

It’s been months since he’s had to deal with something like that. He’s felt safe ever since they rebuilt the fences, and created something amazing at the prison. 

“Oh my god, what happened?” Carol asks

Ken’s eyes are full of anger, that anger grows as he looked at the dead body, “Elle tried to kill Ciel”

Glenn, Rick, Daryl, Sasha, and Maggie show up, and see Ken holding Ciel, and his neck bled a little bit, Ciel’s breath shuddering, almost as if he felt cold.

“What happened?” Rick asks

“Ken had to kill Elle. She tried killing Ciel” Carol says. 

More people show up to see what happened. 

“Why did you shoot her?!” Joel yells. 

Ken moves himself from holding Ciel, and walks to Joel, standing in his face. 

“Your sister was gonna kill Ciel, I’d kill anyone who threatened his life without hesitation”

“Even your own girlfriend?! You’re sick man” He pushes Ken.

“Elle wasn’t my girlfriend”

“So, you were using her then? Asshole!!” Joel tries to punch Ken, but Ken dodges it, elbows Joel and makes him fall on his ass

“Don’t you fucking touch me. I didn’t use anyone. Everyone knows I don’t do relationships”

“Alright, I think everyone should calm down. Ken, you good?” Rick says

“Ken just knocked me on my ass, and you’re asking if he’s okay? Man, ya’ll’re pricks”

Joel gets up and storms away

Daryl checks Ciel’s cut, Ken does the same. Everyone else starts to leave to give them space.

Ken brings Ciel to the place they hold the council meetings. Daryl and Rick brought medical supplies for Ciel’s cut.

“How is he?” Rick asks as Ken walks out of the room

“He’ll be fine. It wasn’t deep, he shouldn’t try and talk for awhile though, just to be safe”

“Hey, about Elle—“

“I had to, Rick. Whoever I’m involved with— doesn’t matter how involved I am, I will. Kill anyone who threatens his life. You know this”

“Yes, I know. But some people aren’t okay with you just killing her”

“If I didn’t shoot her, Ciel would be dead. Like I give a fuck what anyone else thinks” 

“Just calm down, we aren’t—“

Ken sighs, “I’m calm. I just—It pisses me off. I started to trust Elle, she wasn’t a violent person”

“It ain’t your fault. If thats what you’re thinkin’” Daryl says 

Ken chuckles. “In a way, it is. But that doesn’t matter. Ciel’s fine” He breathes out. 

They hear Ciel coughing, and Ken rushes inside with Daryl and Rick.

“Hey, stop that. You can’t be—“ 

“I’m fine.. Like you said, the cut wasn’t that deep” Ciel mumbles, then coughs 

“You good?” 

“He might be sick..” Ken says. “Dammit!” He yells and storms out. 

Rick sighs. “C’mon. If you’re sick, you should be away from everyone else”

Rick helps Ciel get up, and walk. He winced a few times from the bruises on his body.

Rick showed him where he has to stay for awhile, then leaves to do other stuff

Ciel saw a few other people in the block. Even a kid he hasn’t seen around. He looked like he was close to his and Carl’s age or older, and like he wasn’t from around that area. 

He also looked sad.

* * *

The next morning, Ken, Carol, Rick and Daryl followed Tyreese to check out Karen, and her burnt, dead body. 

“You’re a cop” He walks to Rick, making Ken and Daryl prepare to hold him back if necessary. 

“You find out who did this, and you bring ‘em to me, you understand? Bring ‘em _to_ _ me ” _

“We’ll find out who—“ Daryl touches Tyreese’s shoulder but he pushes it off and waits for Rick’s response. “I need to say it again?” Tyreese said aggressively

“No. No. I know what you’re feeling. I’ve been there. You saw me there, it’s dangerous” Rick said

“Karen didn’t deserve this”

“No.”

“David didn’t deserve it. Nobody does”

“Alright, man, lets—“

Tyreese lunges at Daryl, and pushes him back. He tells Rick and Ken to stop, and not interfere

“We’re on the same side, man.” Daryl says

“Hey, look, I know what you’re goin’ through. We’ve all lost someone. We know what you’re goin’ through right now, but you—you’ve gotta calm down” Rick says

“You need to step the hell back!”

“She wouldn’t want you acting like this” Ken says. 

Tyreese punches him. Ken falls to the ground, on his knees and hand, then gets punched again. Rick holds Tyreese back, and Daryl watches carefully. 

Ken punches Tyreese, knocking him on the ground and kicks him, then punches him more. 

Rick and Daryl pull him off

“Ken! Stop it” 

“Get your hands off me” Ken snaps, elbowing Daryl in the gut, punches Tyreese once more before Rick keeps him back. 

Tyreese cries on the ground. 

Rick lets go of Ken when he stops fighting back. He takes a deep breath and storms off, shaking his hand, since it hurts from punching Tyreese. 

Ken goes to see Hershel to check it out. 

“This is gonna be sprained at least a week” Hershel says as he dabs Ken’s knuckles with alcohol and fluff pads, Ken winced from the sudden touch.

“Sorry... Good news, none of these cuts need stitches. I wouldn’t plan much typing for the next few days” Hershel jokes, but he stops once he notices the look on Ken’s face. 

“You okay?” Hershel asks, Ken raises an eyebrow.

Ken sighs. “It hurts”

“I wasn’t talking about the hand. We just went through something terrible. Ciel was beat and almost killed, again, and then now he’s sick. And everything we’ve been working so hard to keep out. It found its way in” Hershel says, as he wraps a bandage around Ken’s hand. 

Ken winced

“Ciel will be okay. You shouldn’t worry about him. We’ll figure out how to fix this”

“Hershel—“ Ken’s voice shakes. He takes a deep breath. “If Ciel dies.. I’m not sure if I can—“

“You can. And Ciel won’t die. That boy has been through so much, he’s strong. He can get through this too” 

“You can’t promise that..” He says, lowering his head. 

Hershel sighs. “It doesn’t hurt to stay hopeful. And besides, I have a point. Don’t you think?” 

“Yeah.. I guess”

Hershel smiles at Ken. “It warms my heart knowing you care so much about Ciel’s wellbeing. Stay strong for both him and yourself” He says before he leaves. 

Ken thinks about what Hershel just told him. It was then, when Ken decided to not trust anyone except the people he met before they took in these strangers. 

He should’ve sensed something from Elle, but never did. Maybe, the typical stupidity, or impulsive and selfish moves when it came to loss. Any of that.

And if Ciel dies. He’s not sure what he’d do with himself. He’s sworn to protect Ciel, and keep him alive. Yet, because of the stupid flu, he might die.

* * *

That night, Ciel lays in one of the cells, clutching his aching stomach, trying to push the nausea away. 

He heard the door open, and got up to check it out. And see’s Sasha.  He goes back to lay down

* * *

Daryl and Michonne leave to get antibiotics. They asked Ken to go. He wanted to stay for Ciel, but Daryl convinces him to go with them. 

Ken didn’t want to, but it’s better to try and focus on getting meds than worrying about Ciel. 

So they wait for Tyreese, and then they leave.

* * *

A day later, Ciel was sitting with Glenn who’d arrived a few minutes ago.

He groans. “This feeling is terrible” 

“Yeah..” 

“Glenn?” Lizzie shows up. 

“Hey, whats up, Lizzie?” Glenn asked

“Carol said you could tuck me in bed.. Can you?” 

Glenn looks at Ciel, Ciel nods, and Glenn leaves with Lizzie. 

Ciel hears someone crying, and goes to check it out. He see’s Tyreese and Sasha talking. 

“Hey, Sasha. You okay?” He asks. 

She turns around, and is panting. “Hey, Ciel. You should be laying down”

Sasha gets up, weakly. Ciel rushes to help, “Let me help you” 

“How long have you been in here? I just got here and seems like I look worse than you” 

“I’ve been here since yesterday..” Ciel mumbles, and helps Sasha sit down in a cell. 

“How’re you feeling?” She asks

“I just feel really nauseous. A bit dizzy but thats kinda it..” 

“Damn, you lucky kid” She groans out. 

“Just rest here.. Okay?” 

She nods, and lays down. 

Ciel leaves her cell, and see’s Hershel walk in. 

“Hershel? You’re going to get sick” 

“Ciel. What’re you doing? You should be resting”

“I’m fine”

“If you say so. Why don’t you help me then?” 

Ciel nods.

* * *

After Ciel drank whatever Hershel made, Hershel gave some to the doctor to help with flu symptoms. 

Then they go to Glenn. “This sucks. After everything, we just get taken out by a glorified cold”

“Don’t say things like that. Don’t even think things like that”

“All I can do is stop saying them”

“No, you can do more. We got this far somehow, you can _believe_ somehow. Now we all have jobs here. That one’s yours” 

Hershel puts a cloth on his head. 

“Why don’t you look as shitty as I do?” Glenn asks. 

Ciel shrugs. “I don’t know..” 

“He’s the only one here who’s symptoms are less dangerous. It’s almost as if its just a normal flu for him”

Glenn groans. “Lucky” He laughs, then coughs. 

“Hang in there, bro” Ciel playfully punches Glenn’s shoulder. 

“Hey, um, Hershel?” Ciel says. “Is there anything else I can do? I’m not feeling as bad as them, I want to help keep everyone alive” 

Hershel smiles at Ciel. 

“I’ll come find you if I think of anything”

Ciel nods and walks away, then up to the boy he saw earlier. 

“Hey, you okay?”

He looks at Ciel, and hesitates before answering. “Yeah” 

Ciel gives the boy his cup of the stuff Hershel made. “Drink this”

“What is it?”

“It’ll help with your flu symptoms. Give you more time until Ken and the others get back with meds”

He takes the cup, and sips on in. He coughs. 

“I haven’t seen you around before.” Ciel says, leaning against the bars, his arms crossed, “You one of the people who recently joined us?”

“Yeah.. I’ve only been here a few days” 

“Sorry you’re one of the people to get sick” He takes another sip, then glances at Ciel from the side of his eye

“Why don’t you look as bad as anyone else?”

“I don’t know. Hershel said I only show symptoms of a normal flu.. So” 

“Ah. I see... What happened to your neck? and face?”

“A friend of mine died when this whole thing started. Her sister attacked me. Blamed me for her death”

“Oh shit, really? What happened to her?”

“Ken. He killed her before she cut too deep”

“Damn..”

“Whats your name?” Ciel asks. 

“Levi. Yours?”

“Ciel”

Levi chuckles, “Seems like we both have odd names” 

Ciel laughs. “Yeah. I guess so”

Levi stays smiling, looking at Ciel. 

Then he coughs, and coughs, Ciel rubs his back and gives him a cloth. “Take it easy, okay? I’ll be back”

“Do you have to go?” Levi asks once his coughing stops. Ciel turns around. 

“I just— You’re good company. And nobody here has really talked to me, so..” 

Ciel smiles and nods. He sits next to Levi. After a few minutes of talking, Levi touches Ciel’s hand, then holds it. Ciel holds Levi’s hands back, and gently squeezes. 

Glenn and Hershel smile as watch Ciel and Levi talk, and laugh. Which isn’t something Ciel does a lot anymore. Unless he’s with Carl, or Ken.


	26. Chapter 26

Hershel allowed Ciel to spend more time with Levi, and had Sasha and Glenn help for awhile. 

Levi started coughing more. It worried Ciel. 

He didn’t want Levi to die. He liked Levi. There was something about him that made Ciel attracted him. A little more than he’d thought, even though they’d only known each other for a less than a day. 

Ken was still gone for the meds. 

And unlike Levi, Glenn or Sasha, Ciel was still fine. He was starting to feel weaker, but his fever or nausea wasn’t as bad as the rest of them. 

Levi moves his hand on top of Ciel’s. Ciel holds his hand back, comforting Levi. Worrying you’re gonna die at some point because of the flu must be.. scary. 

Later in the night, Ciel went to see Maggie, while Hershel rested. 

“Where’s Glenn? He said he would meet me” She says, sounding worried.

“He’s resting”

“Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. He was helping Hershel all day, so he’s tired. They both are”

“I can help—“

“Hershel knew you’d say that... But he doesn’t. We can’t risk anyone else getting sick, and I’m here. I’ll be able to help if he needs it”

Maggie sighs. “You don’t look that sick. How’re you feelin’?”

“Every now and then I get really nauseous.. And dizzy but it comes and goes so I’m fine”

“Thats weird..” 

Ciel nods. “How’s Rick and Carl? Judith?”

“They’re fine. Rick left with Carol on a run for more supplies. Beth is watching Judith, and Carl’s watching the other kids”

“Thats good..” Ciel takes a deep breath, “ You know, you shouldn’t worry about Glenn or your dad. It won’t be much longer till Ken and Daryl and everyone else gets back. And Hershel’s doing a lot of good stuff in here. Helping everyone” Ciel smiles

“Yeah. He’s good like that” Maggie says. He chuckles quietly. “I should go” 

Maggie nods. 

“Hang in there, Maggie. ‘Cause we are” He shoots her one more smile, then turns to leave the room. Glenn stood by the door, listening.

“Thanks for stopping her” He says. “If she saw me, couldn’t keep her out.”

Ciel nods. “I’ll finish up for Hershel. You should go lie down”

Glenn slowly starts to walk over to one of the cells

Ciel checks on the other sick people, then gives an update on them to Hershel. Hershel goes back to rest while Ciel goes back to Levi.

The next morning, Joel asked to see Ciel. He left to go talk to him. 

“Hey, kid. How are things in there?” Joel asked, his arms crossed. 

Ciel glares at him. “Fine”

“Listen.. About what Elle did,” He points to Ciel’s neck, and lowers his head, “I’m sorry. She was always so unpredictable. You’re not to blame for Callie... I know that, and I want to apologize on behalf of Elle” 

Ciel looks at him. “Okay.. But I think you need to apologize to Ken, not me. You tried to hit him” He snarls at Joel. 

He lowers his head, and nods slowly. “Yeah... I, uh, hope everyone gets better, hang in the—

Ciel walks away. 

“Alright then..” Joel mumbled, turned around then left as well. 

Ciel saw Hershel dragging another body away, so Ciel joined him to help.

“Let me..” He says quietly. Hershel nods, and Ciel takes out his pocketknife and stabs the dead mans head. 

He sighs. “I hope Daryl and Ken get back soon” he says, as Rick appears behind them.

“Hershel. Ciel” Rick glances at the dead body.

Hershel looked at Rick, and back at the body. “Third one we’ve lost. We’re burning them behind the blocks. Burning them. Thats what it’s come to” Hershel says sadly

“Are you okay?” Rick asked them. 

“I talked to him yesterday about steinbeck. He told me a quote. “A sad soul can kill quicker than a germ” That’s exactly why I didn’t want them all to see what happens. I know they know, but I didn’t want them seeing it right now”

Ciel rubs Hershel’s arm. 

“Ciel?” Rick looks at him. Ciel rubs the back of his head. “I’m good” 

Rick slowly nods, and sees the saddened look on Hershel’s face. 

“Hey,” He says to get his attention, “They’re seeing you, Hershel. They see you, and Ciel, keep goin’. Even after all the choices get taken away. But when we get past this thing... It’s not gonna be like it was, is it?”

“No.” Hershel shakes his head. 

Rick walks around, sighing. Then he turns his head, “Was that denial? Not seein’ things for what they were?”

“No, you just caught a break. You needed some time, you got some. You got lucky. We all did. I still think there’s a plan. I still believe there’s a reason” Hershel says. 

“You think it’s all a test?”

“Life is always a test, Rick”

“I’m— Gonna go check on Levi” Ciel says. Hershel nods. 

“Who’s Levi?” 

“A new kid Daryl brought in a few days before this all happened. He and Ciel get along great” 

Rick nods, and smiles. The smile quickly fades, and tells Hershel about Carol. 

Ciel has Levi’s head on his lap, but Levi sat up when he heard rustling. 

Ciel peeked out of the cell and saw Hershel with Sasha. Something wasn’t right, so Ciel got up and went to help. 

Once Sasha woke up, Ciel went back to Levi. 

“It shouldn’t be too long until Ken gets back now” He says. Ciel grabbed Levi’s hand, and squeezed. Levi smiled at him. 

“I still don’t understand why you’re not as bad off as us” Levi groaned. 

Ciel sighs, then shrugged. Then a scream startled the two. 

Lizzie was calling Hershel, and Ciel gets up, and runs to the her on the second floor, but a walker gets in his way, walking past the cell and pounces on Hershel. A lady kicks it off. 

Ciel got out of the cell, turned around and locked Levi in. “Stay here” 

Levi nods, and watches as Ciel tries to get past the many people who’ve turned.

Another guy who had a gun and pointed it towards the walker trying to eat someone, but was he quickly bitten by one of the guys in the cell who’d turned. Ciel killed the walker on him, pushing his knife in it’s head. The man accidentally shoots the gun, the bullet hits someone else, and they are eaten by a walker.

Ciel stabs the walkers in his way, in the head. Then helps Hershel get up. Then kills the other walker. Hershel see’s Lizzie making one of the walkers follow her as she walks backwards, whispering to it, and then she falls. The walker pounces on top of her, and she screams. 

Ciel just reached the top of the stairs, and he pulls the walker off of her, pushes it, but as he does so

The walker bit him. 

Then Ciel stabs its head. Hershel stood nearby with a worried expression spread across is face. 

Ciel looks down at his arm, saddened, confused.. Lizzie startled him with a hug. He ignores the fact he was bit so he can guide her to a different cell, a safe cell. Hershel goes to see what was wrong with Glenn. 

He needed the gun the doctor had. The doctor had turned, so Hershel killed him. Ciel was helping since everyone started to turn. 

He’d taken one of the guns and shot a walker that was going up the stairs. Then the 2 others that were getting closer. Hershel rushed back to Glenn, who was choking on his own blood. 

Then Maggie came by while Hershel took the airbag from Henry, and rushed to Glenn to help out.

Ciel ran back to help Hershel as well, and saw Maggie with him. 

She moved Glenn to his side, and Hershel got back with the bag he needed to save him. Maggie and Ciel held down Glenn’s arms, and Hershel was getting him ready to use the airbag. Right after, Glenn managed to breathe. 

Maggie noticed the bite on Ciels arm. “Oh my god..”

“Don’t tell Rick, Ken or Carl.. Not yet...” Ciel voice shook, probably because his heart was still racing

Maggie nods, then focuses on Glenn. 

“I need to check up on Levi” Ciel gets up, and walks into Lizzie. 

“Thank you for saving me..” She says, and kisses Ciel’s cheek while she hugged him again. 

Ciel patted her back before walking past her, going down the steps so he can see Levi.

He was still alive. 

“Hey,” Levi greets, sitting up. He saw the bite on his arm, and his happy expression faded. 

Ciel looked down at it, and sighed. 

Pretty soon after that, Ken got back with meds, and other stuff they needed. 

Levi gave Ciel his sweater to cover Ciel’s bite, since Ken got back and couldn’t let his family see his bite mark. Not just yet.

Hershel and Ciel injected everyone with the antibiotics to help fight the flu. Levi was alive, and safe, Ciel. Well... He’s gonna die in a few hours. They put antibiotics in him too, for the flu he already had, and maybe it’d help fight the whatever it was that turned people into walkers.

Hershel then left to rest. 

Levi and Ciel went out for fresh air. Ciel helped him walk outside. The sun was just comingup.

“Beautiful...” Levi says. 

“Yeah.. It is” Ciel responds. 

“I’m sorry...” Levi mumbled. 

“What for?” 

“You got bit. I wish you didn’t, because now we can’t spend anymore time together”

Ciel sighs. He’s definitely sad. He knows Ken will be hurt and upset that he’s gonna die. Carl and Rick too. In fact, a lot of people are. He only just realized how many people he has in his life who love him. Which only made it that much more painful.

“Can I do something? I thought about it when we met but... I didn’t think... Our time would be limited”

“Uh, yeah. What is i—“ Ciel’s interrupted by Levi, by him lifting up Ciel’s head to meet his face, and gently presses their lips together

Their kiss becomes more passionate. It feels more.. Natural to be kissing Levi, rather than Callie. Which was confusing for Ciel, but soon he wouldn’t need to care about that. 

Because of their height difference, Ciel had to stand on his tippy toes while they kissed, Levi’s fingers were gently gripping Ciel’s chin, his hand moved to cup Ciel’s face. And Ciel could feel the sad vibe surrounding him. 

Levi broke the kiss and hugged Ciel. He hugged back. 

“Can you be with me when I tell my family? They’re.. Gonna be sad and I.. I can’t do it alone”

“Yeah. Anything for you” Levi responds softly. 

Ciel and Levi head back in, and Maggie calls a meeting. Glenn and Sasha still came, and so did Carl. Hershel didn’t, since he had to rest.

“Why call a meeting this late?” Daryl asks. 

“We have something we all need to talk about” Maggie says. 

“Is something wrong?” Rick asked. Maggie sighed and looked at Ciel, who was sitting awfully close to Levi, and his arm was wrapped around Ciel. It made them wonder why, but they weren’t too concerned at the moment.

Ciel looks at Levi, and Levi nods. Ciel stands up, and takes off his sweater, then shows them the bite. 

Ken’s eyes get dark, and its almost like he stops breathing. 

“No..” Rick mumbles. Ciel and Rick hug, while Carl fights back the tears

Rick tries to talk, but no words come out. Just quiet rambling

“One of them turned, and was on Lizzie. I got him off but... He bit me” Ciel says 

Daryl looks away, and Maggie notices how it looks like Ken isn’t breathing. 

“I-I’m sorry” 

“You shouldn’t be sorry” Ken mumbles, his voice clearly shaking. 

Ken rubs his face. Ciel goes over to Ken, and hugs him. 

Everyone thought Ken would be more... Angered, and aggressive but he seems more sad.

He takes a deep breath, and Ciel goes to hug everyone, fighting back his tears.

Then Ciel goes back to sit next to Levi. They all look at him. 

“Somethin’ going on between you two?” Ken says, battling with himself, and making sure he doesn’t lose it. 

Levi looks guilty, as everyones eyes are on him. 

Ciel nods, then everyone smiles at them. Then Levi smiles back, looking at Ciel as if he was the only human that mattered. The only one he could see.

After the meeting, Ciel goes outside and watch people taking out the bodies from the cell block, and the dead walkers Rick and Carl took out. 

He sat on the benches, Levi and Judith were with him. Just the three of them, for awhile. Talking about anything to keep Ciel’s mind off the fact, he’s a dead man walking, the sudden increase in fatigue and nausea didn’t make it any easier.

Levi explained what Ciel was feeling, why he seemed to like Levi more than he liked Callie. 

Soon, Ken, Carl, and Judith join them. Rick was busy with Daryl. Ken needed to be with Ciel, same with Carl. 

“So, when did... this happen?” Carl asked. 

Levi was sitting next to Ciel, with his arm around him. “We just.. talked when I got there”

Levi nods. 

Ciel looks worriedly at Carl. “D-Does it bother you?”

Carl sighs, “No. I just— didn’t know. But as long as you’re happy”

Ciel smiles, then looks at Ken. He looks like he has a lot on his mind. 

“Can me and Ken talk alone for a minute?”

“Sure..” 

Carl takes Judith from Ciel, then he and Levi get up and leave. Ken looks at Ciel, trying to hide his sadness. 

“Don’t gotta look so sad, Ken”

“Don’t be stupid... I have every right to—“

Ciel scoots next to Ken, and leans on him. “Please, don’t be sad.. But be there for Carl, and Rick. And Judith. Will you?”

Ken sighs. “Yeah, I’ll do what I can..”

Ciel lets the tears fall. He doesn’t wanna leave Ken, or Rick, Judith, Carl, Michonne, Carol or Daryl. He wants to be with them. Especially Levi. 

Ciel gets embraced by Ken. Ken’s arm keeps Ciel closely to him. Ken could be like a giant blanket or pillow thanks to how damn tall he is. And because of that, Ciel is also very comfortable, and cozy. He switches from being cold, to warm, to hot, and back to cold. But the warmth he feels isn’t necessarily his temperature on the outside. He gets a warm, comforting feeling on the inside when he gets hugged like this, especially from Ken. 

Ken’s never been the kind of guy who’s affectionate, or comforts many people, but he’s one hell of a hugger. Maybe only for Ciel.

They both jump when they hear an explosion. Ken quickly gets up and meets with Rick when he got outside with Daryl. They see 6 cars and a tank, and a lot of people. Including the Governor.


	27. Chapter 27

Levi helps Ciel go to the fence with everyone else to see what was going on. They stand next to Carl. He groans and clutches his nauseating stomach. 

Theres a lot of tension. Especially when they see Michonne and Hershel with the Governor. Rick hugs Ciel and kisses his head before he goes to talk to the Governor. 

They all make sure to have everyone evacuate if need be. 

Daryl gives Ken, Tyreese, Maggie and Beth weapons, and they waited to see what will happen. Preparing themselves

Levi helps Ciel keep his balance as they watch Rick approach the other gates. Ciel gets weaker and closer to death by the minute.

Rick stands by the fence worried. Not only about the Governor with a tank and a lot of people, but about his kids.

“Let ‘em go. Right now. I’ll stay down here. Talk as long as you want. But you let ‘em go. You got a tank. You don’t need hostages”

“I do. This is just to show you I’m serious. Not to blast a whole in our new home. You and your people, you have until sundown to get out of here or they die” The Governor says

“Doesn’t have to go down this way”

“I got more people, more firepower. We need this prison”

Rick drops his head, then back at the Governor

“There it is.” He says. “It’s not about the past. It’s about right now”

“There are children here. Some of ‘em are sick. They won’t survive” Rick sniffles. “M-My son— He’s—“

“I have a tank!” He shouts angrily. “And I’m lettin’ you walk away from here. What else is there to talk about?”

* * *

Ciel nearly falls, but Carl and Levi catch him. 

“Hey, come on now..” Levi says. 

Ciel groans. “Sorry.. It just—it hurts”

“Don’t be sorry” Carl says quietly.

“I—I almost feel like a cooked noodle” 

Levi and Ken couldn’t help but chuckle, but soon stop after remembering Ciel hasn’t much time left. 

Levi kisses Ciel’s head, and holds him close, but Ciel pushes himself away and has Carl open the gate so he can go to Rick. Ken followed him.

* * *

“I could shoot you all. You’d all shoot back. I know that. But we’ll win and you’ll be dead. All of you. Doesn’t have to be like that” The Governor says. 

Two walkers show up nearby, and he shoots them. The gunshots made Hershel jump

“Noise will only draw more of ‘em over. The longer you wait, the harder it’ll be for you to get out of here”

They stay quiet, staring each other down. Ciel shows up. 

“You got maybe about an hour of sunlight left. I suggest you start packing. The longer you wait, the harder it’s gonna be for you to get out of here”

“Rick..” Ciel says weakly. Rick turns around, “What’re you doing here? You need to go back, be with Carl and Ken” He whispers

Ciel chuckles. “I was thinking, if they saw a sick kid.. they’d leave” He says, then swallows. 

Rick turns around. “We can all—We can all live together. There’s enough room for all of us”

“More than enough. But I don’t think my family would sleep well knowing that you were under the same roof”

“We’d live in different cell blocks. We’d never have to see each other till we’re all ready” 

“It could work. You know it could” Hershel says, looking back at Philip 

“It could’ve. But it can’t. Not after Woodbury. Not after Andrea”

“I’m not saying it’s gonna be easy. Fact is, it’s not gonna be a hell of a lot harder than standing here shooting at each other. But I don’t think we have a choice”

“We don’t. You do”

“We’re not leaving”

Ciel coughs. “Rick— I don’t—“ Ciel quickly falls, but managed to catch himself and sit down

Ken runs to him and picks up Ciel to bring him back. “Come on, buddy”

Rick watches them walk away, then looks back at Philip, who eyed Ken as he took away Ciel, his face showing nothing but a cold expression. 

“You try and force us, we’ll fight back. I’ll fight for this place, for my boys. And like you said, gunshot’ll just bring more of ‘em out. They’ll take down the fences. Without the fences, this place is worthless. Now, we can all live in the prison or none of us can”

The Governor jumps off the tank, takes Michonne’s katana.

Ciel was watching from a distance. “No—No!!” He yelled as the sword was held to Hershel’s neck. Ciel tried to get out of Ken’s arms to run for Hershel, to save him. Ken was too strong to get away.

Rick points to someone behind Michonne. “You. You in the ponytails. Is this what you want? Is this what any of you want?”

“What we want, is what you got. Period. Time for you to leave, asshole” Someone on one of the trucks says.

“Look, I fought him before. And after, we took in his old friends. They’ve become leaders in what we have here. Now you put your weapons down, walk through those gates... You’re one of us.”

The Governor looks back at Rick, as the other people on his side look at each other. 

“We let go of all of it, and nobody dies. Everyone’s who’s alive right now. Everyone who’s made it this far. We’ve all done the worst kinds of things just to stay alive. But we can still come back. We’re not too far gone. We get to come back” 

The Governor starts to move the sword away from Hershel. Hershel is clearly proud of Rick, using similar words he told Rick the other day. 

“I know... We all can change”

The Governor looks at the sword, moving it further away from Hershel. 

“Liar” He whispers, and cuts Hershels throat

“No!” Rick screams, then starts shooting at them.

Ken made sure Ciel didn’t see what happened, covering his eyes before it happened, and holding him closer to himself. Everyone starts to shoot at each other. 

Levi takes Ciel somewhere else, while everyone fights. He brought Ciel somewhere he could hide, and goes back to help the others fight, despite him still recovering. 

He grabs a gun and starts shooting. Levi hits one person, as he stands beside Ken, who’s also shooting while the Governor and his people breaks through the first gates, heading closer to them.

The tank starts to shoot at the prison, destroying chunks of it, and everyone begins to evacuate. 

They get through the second gates, and Ken, Daryl, Sasha and Levi shoot at them, while other people who left as their enemies get closer

The bus leaves, Ken stays next to Daryl while everyone escapes. Daryl throws a grenade in the tank and killing the guy who was in it, and bursting through the second fences

Beth runs to them, “I was tryna find the kids to get them on the bus”

“We gotta go” Ken says.

“Wheres Ciel? Levi?” She asks

“It doesn’t matter. Ciel’s probably dead already, if not, he will be soon, but right now we need to leave before we die too” Ken looks around, making them do it too, noticing how many walkers are getting in.

Daryl and Beth look at him, and run. 

Levi was with Carl. He killed a walker who was going at a severely beat up Rick. Rick cries. 

“Judith? Ciel? Where are they?”

“I put him somewhere safe, Carl and I went back there but he was gone.” Levi says. 

“I don’t know where Judith is” Carl says

They walk together, then see Judith’s carseat. They walk to it, Carl and Levi helping Rick walk. 

They see blood in the carseat, and Rick cries harder. Carl shoots a walker that was going towards them, and continues shooting it until he has no bullets left. Levi turns him around and hugs Carl, who starts to cry just as hard as Rick

“Carl, we gotta go, man. We gotta get out of here” Levi says. The two of them walk away. 

After reaching a safe place, Levi left them and went back to the prison, hoping to find Ciel. To spend however much time Ciel has left to live with him. 

So he doesn’t die alone.


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay! sex! how yummy... I think. I don’t often write sex scenes (I do but this is my first time posting one) so dont h8 it too bad. I’m still learning B)
> 
> happy quarantine!

Levi brought Ciel to his cell block, then left him.

Ciel helped some people escape, telling them to go to the bus. He tried to go too, but something hit the prison, and made rocks nearly crush him. Ciel falls back, and felt someone grab him.

Levi came back

“Come on! This way!” 

Levi helped Ciel run out of the prison. Ciel already packed a few things in his bag, including his sword. 

“We need to find them” Ciel says 

“We can’t. They all left in the front of the prison, there’s too many walkers. We can’t find them from here. Besides.. We might not have enough time for you to be able to find them”

Ciel sighs. “You’re right..” 

The two then started running, further away from the jail.

Soon enough, Levi and Ciel made a little camp in an abandoned vehicle for the night. Far away from the chaos at the prison. 

Ciel’d been sick for almost a whole day, which would be a record for the longest living person who was bit. As far as Ciel knows. 

They were cuddling in the car, “I wanna try something before... You know” Levi says, holding Ciel’s hand.

“What is it?”

“Do you trust me?” 

“Yes”

Levi moved over to the passenger seat, and hovered above Ciel, kissing him passionately. Ciel quickly got the gist of what Levi wanted to do, so he took off his shirt when Levi did too. 

Ciel stopped them, feeling like Levi should know what kind of person Ciel is.

“L-Levi,” Ciel says, clearly nervous

“What is it? You okay?”

Ciel sits up, sighing. “I—“ Be breathes in deeply. “S-something similar to.. what you wanna do, happened back when all this started. It wasn’t—“

The look in Levi’s eyes changed. “I see...I can show you that.. It can feel good. I’ll go slow, but if you really want me to stop. Tell me, and I will”

Ciel sighs. “Okay. I trust you” He whispers

Levi cups Ciel’s face as he kisses him gently. Ciel lowers the back of the seat more.

Then Levi unbuckled his pants, took them off, then helped Ciel do the same. Levi went back to kissing him, feeling Ciel’s warm and surprisingly soft skin. 

Levi thrusted his hips forward, rubbing his hardening member on Ciel’s body, making them both moan quietly.

Some people who’ve been through what Ciel has in the last 2 years wouldn’t be so excited to be doing what he’s about to do. Ciel felt nervous, scared even. But the excitement overweighs those negative feelings

Perhaps its because he knows Levi is a good person. He’s gentle, passionate. Caring. Considerate. All of it shows, and maybe thats why.. Ciel is ready, and knows he’s in good hands. 

It is consensual after all.

Levi released himself from his jeans, but decided to do something else before getting right to it.

Levi lowered in between Ciel’s legs, doing something that made Ciel’s whole body tingle, ripples of pleasure coursed throughout his spine. Licking Ciel’s untouched hole, to get it nice and wet. It was an odd sensation.

After a couple minutes, Levi transferred the wetness, the saliva from his mouth on his fingers to use for some lubrication as he began to prep Ciel, using one finger. It was uncomfortable, but after Levi added a second, he relaxed more into the odd pleasure. Levi used his other hand to jerk off Ciel.

He used a third finger, and curled his two others to brush against Ciel’s prostate, making his back arch, and moan from the weird sensation. Levi smirked

A few minutes go by, and Ciel’s ready. Levi wet the tip of his throbbing member before he positioned himself, then lined up with Ciel. 

He looked at Ciel one more time, waiting for him to tell him to continue. Ciel kissed him, as Levi pushed himself past his tight ring, going deeper inside of him, slowly. His ass barely able to stretch around Levi’s cock, the tightness forced a groan out of him. Ciel wrapped his arms and legs around his lover.

Ciel lets out quiet moans that made Levi get more turned on. Sure, they sounded a bit painful and uncomfortable, but Levi knew he’d soon make Ciel feel good. Ciel kept trying to remind himself to breathe. 

Vivid memories came back to Ciel. Memories of those villainous people in that church. What they did to him. But unlike other times where he remembered, it didn’t make him panic. He wasn’t necessarily uncomfortable in Levi’s presence. 

Levi was balls deep inside of Ciel, but he wasn’t moving, letting his lover get used to him before thrusting. He passionately kissed Ciel, his arms on either side of his head. 

Ciel lifted his head up, “Can—Can you move now?”

Levi licked Ciel’s ear, and began to move. Both of their moans were in each others ear, and it was a sound they both enjoyed.

Levi went slow, but deep. And eventually when Ciel visibly relaxed more, he began to go faster

Ciel breathed harshly, and occasionally let out low moans while digging his nails in Levi’s back. 

Levi was trying to control himself, since he wanted to go harder, he wanted to do a lot of things in that moment, but he needed Ciel to feel good instead. Give him one last good memory before he’s dead. 

“Oh, god” Ciel moaned quietly. Levi smiled, then kissed Ciel’s cheek, hearing Ciel’s moans in his ear.

“L-Levi!” Ciel gasped, and his nails scratched Levi’s shoulders again. Levi groaned deeply and went a faster, putting himself at a differnt angle, hoping he finds the special spot inside of Ciel

Ciel’s body jolted up, and he shrieked at the feeling of an intense shock of hot pleasure that came out of nowhere. 

Levi continuously hit that special spot, thrusting his hips forward at a fast pace, chasing his orgasm. And then, one last hard thrust inside of him, Levi came as Ciel’s ass tightened around him. 

Levi and Ciel’s shaky grunts and groans entwined together while they finished, Ciel’s leg shook from the feeling of warm cum inside his body. 

They soon came down from their sex-high. Levi was panting, and Ciel was tired. Levi leaned over to Ciel, kissing him, then moving out of the way to clean him up, getting as much cum out of him as possible. 

Then they both got clothed up again, and cuddled in the back seats. Levi was sad he could never do that for Ciel again. He wanted to have a life with Ciel, to stand beside each other, killing walkers. 

Levi made Ciel feel things he didn’t know he could feel. The pleasure, the feeling of safety despite being so vulnerable with someone he’d just met. 

It didn’t take long for Ciel to fall asleep. Levi was tired too, so he fell asleep as well

He wasn’t supposed to sleep. He had to stay awake for when Ciel died, and came back. But Levi would rather die with him, whether it be suicide, or eaten by the boy he must admit; he loves.

In the morning, Levi was still asleep. He felt something cold and small touch his arm and face. He jolted up, instinctively grabbing his knife and tried to kill whatever was in front of him.

It was Ciel.

Alive.

Not dead. Not trying to make Levi his first meal. 

“I—I’m not.. Dead. Levi?” Ciel’s eyes were wide, his voice shook.

“Why am I not dead?”


End file.
